NZ Life Insurance And NZ Health Insurance Homework Required

Written By: Hayden Ballantyne on September 30, 2010 No Comment

Whilst purchasing a NZ Health Insurance or NZ Life Insurance policy online, direct from an insurance company or straight from your bank may be better than no insurance at all, it is highly likely that you will end up with a policy that is not the best fit for your needs.

Your money and time is important. You will need to obtain as much information as possible in order to make the right decision. The two ways you could go about this are; 1st) Do it yourself, spend the time and effort in finding out about all the product offerings that match up with your needs, or 2nd) Let an independent insurance adviser do this task for you and then present you with a summery recommendation on the best options for your particular situation.

Health Insurance bought from your bank or direct has many pitfalls; a) lack of real choice as you will only be offered the products manufactured by these entities which may end up being more expensive for less coverage, b) these institutions are primarily concerned with the initial sale and may offer little or no follow-up service, c) These institutions will not argue your case at claim time as it is not in the financial interest to do so. This final point is extremely important as this is the time when you may need expert advice and advocacy.

An independent adviser’s job is to find a product that exactly, or very closely, matches your requirements. They will argue your case at claim time and be there to offer impartial advice. Insurance is a minefield of jargon and technicalities and it takes many years of relevant experience to ultimately end up with the best possible solution. Whilst it may be possible (with a lot of time and effort) to play this role yourself, it will invariably end up costing you.

The role of an good independent adviser is to gather all the information about the policies available, costs, benefits, and also how the insurance companies will treat the policy holders in case of a claim, they should then prepare a comprehensive and in-depth proposal, outlining the benefits and advantages of the recommended policy as well as comparing this to the other relevant products on the market, it is then up to you to decide if you wish to progress or not. In the event that you wish to progress further, a good insurance adviser should then proceed to formulate the contract between the agreed parties.

Ask the hard questions! – Make sure you ask the adviser if they participate in any incentive offerings from any insurance companies that they deal with (travel, conferences, grants, etc) as these advisers are often unduly influenced in their recommendations due to these incentives offered by the insurance company as these incentives are often geared around promoting that company above all others. Ask if their remuneration is heavily weighted towards the initial sale or whether it’s spread over the lifetime of the policy. Advisers who take spread remuneration often provide superior ongoing service.

Don’t throw away your money, the choice is yours, do your homework so that you can be assured of the best product(s) and advice for your situation.

Want to find out more about NZ Health Insurance and NZ Life Insurance, then visit New Zealand’s premiere insurance site for the best insurance options for your needs.