What’s the one major issue people have that forces people to rely on their insurance plan?

No, not the latest iPhone or episode of Game of Thrones or Pokemon, it is their health! Though Pokemon is proving to be a factor for some!

The problem is we are so focused on being entertained that we have forgotten to focus on the things that really matter.

This blog might be a bit of a rant, in the Hey! Wake up! Style of things, so be warned. This is the article that’s got me going 

Yes, we do the job and pay the bills thing, quite well in fact. Because if we did not, we would not have a roof over our heads, food in our tummies and clothes on our backs. 

Yes, we are busier too. If you live in Auckland, more so, with both the traffic to contend with and the pressure of house prices with working life. Be that renting or owning a property.

Yes, I live in Auckland too, I have the same pressures, so I understand the fatigue with dealing with things outside of the routine.

An Investment Adviser I know has said, We kiwi’s are pretty poor at the wealth creation thing. Rather than putting something aside we pay the bills, spend the money, then when nothing is left, think about the rest.

Wealth comes from employing a strategy, usually a long term one. So stopping at 55, when the kids leave home and go, ok I have got ten years, let's think about retirement, ain’t going to work. Nor does it for many other things.

Taking life insurance, the range not just life cover, later in life is likely going to result in exclusions and increased premiums. You are not going to like it. However, that is how it works too. 

If you have perfect health and never had a problem, then you pay a standard premium. You have health conditions and issues that result in a higher chance of a claim; you pay a higher premium. 

You can complain it is unfair, unfair to who? You? Not so much. 

Offering older people standard premiums when they start with obvious risks is unfair to those that are healthy and have looked after themselves and to those who took cover much younger and have paid their share along the way. Not to mention the insurer who still has to pay the bills too.

A bit close to the bone? Probably. The issue is; in New Zealand, we have a health system straining to keep up. Keep up with the demand, and keep up with expectations. 

The days of, I paid my taxes, the system should look after me, are gone.

Today it is user pays. When it comes to the health system, you pay in one of three ways. By paying a premium for insurance cover, using your savings, if you have it, to get your treatment privately, or pay in time, by sitting in the queue and waiting until the public system gets to you. The later, hoping they do before it gets too serious.

The real problem with the later approach is, it really is life threatening. Really, it is life threatening. 

I am not pulling any punches in this blog because people are no longer listening to what is going on around them. Yes, there are a few, but the vast majority have their head in, well, their earphones.

We have just had a budget released; it adds $96 million to the health budget for elective surgery. With around 170,000 people needing surgery that are not on a waiting list, that $96 million is not going to go far. 

Private elective surgery performs about 164,000 surgeries per year for a cost of about $1,250,000,000 per year. So there is a massive shortfall on what is required, for you to have confidence in the public system getting you the treatment you need.

We presently have the situation that about 2% of the population have the right insurance coverage to have the insurance company pay for their expensive unfunded medical treatments. We have about another 5% maybe 6% that has the money on hand that can pay for it themselves. The rest, 92% of you, will probably miss out. 

No, I am not talking old people, I am not even talking those with adult kids. I am talking about those people in their 20’s, and 30’s now, who will be facing difficult medical issues in their near future.

People in their 30’s and 40’s, with young children, dying of cancer because they have not had the right treatment early enough. They cannot afford the medicines they really need and have to get by on what they can by fundraising or what the public system can provide. Not to mention the loss of wealth and financial pressure that people end up with if they do survive.

Yes, I get a bit hot under the collar about this. I am passionate about making a difference for the people around me. No apologies for raising awareness or getting people to make positive changes.

My mother died from breast cancer at age 57. Cancer that may have been treatable. The problem was she was a bit stubborn and didn’t seek medical advice early. Yes typical Kiwi, it will come right.

Secondly, she did not have access to private funding for her treatment; I know she turned down treatment because she felt she could not afford it. 

Would it have made a difference? Possibly not in the long term, the wait in seeking treatment is a big issue, but it may have extended life for her, to spend more time with her grandkids.

The reality is the delay in treatment was a significant factor in my mother’s outcome. I was not aware of what I now am, as I entered financial services after she was diagnosed. Frustratingly for me, not a whole lot I could really do then.

However, I can now for others!

People have stopped listening; they have stopped watching. The news and the personal stories that are reported every day, on TV and in the paper. Stories about people in our country, suffering from loss of family members that could have been avoided. This actually upsets me a great deal. 

Maybe it is crass, perhaps it breaks some social sensibilities, but the reporting of these stories never speaks of the different outcome that could have been. Different if they had the right insurance coverage. The cover that provided what they really needed to be worried about. Have we got soft? Are we now too PC?

I do not care about the stubbed toe, or maybe even the broken leg. ACC and our emergency system are not bad in this area. Where it is failing, is in the areas where we do not have the spotlight.

A car crash and a messy pileup, make the evening news. Thousands of New Zealanders, your friends, family and neighbours, are quietly dying and suffering in the background, and no one is listening.

What can you do about it?

Well there are several things:

Get a regular medical check. Spend the $50 and see your doctor. Go and see them, so they can see you when you are fit and healthy; so they know when you are sick, just how sick you are.

Encourage those around you to get basic checks done. Breast exams, prostate exams, blood pressure, cholesterol, bowel cancer risks and get your moles checked. Melanoma is one of our significant quiet killers, and the medicines needed to survive it costs a fortune, get it early!

Review your plan. Not the one about your rosy retirement, the plan about how you are going to get there when your health betrays you.

Get medical insurance that covers you for unfunded medicines, and no I am not talking Southern Cross’s $10,000 of coverage, real cover. Cover that will pay the $200,000 bill for your melanoma medicines because you did not get you moles checked.

What might surprise you is the cover that will provide you with this level of coverage can cost as little as $20 per month for someone aged 50. So the answer is relatively cheap for what is a significant life-threatening problem.

Stepping back a bit, as a financial adviser who has seen plenty from the inside of financial services, claims, and hospital rooms. 

You really don’t want to go there, the hospital room that is. If you have to, having the right plan around you means you are more likely to survive it.

My two pence as an Adviser.

• Get the professionals in early. The earlier, the better.
• Develop a financial plan around what you and your family want to achieve in life.
• Set some goals
• Put those plans in place.
• Moreover, protect it. 

This is where I come in, with your insurance plan. However, you will start here and as your adviser, I will keep on you to make sure you put the rest in place.

Why? Because I care, and because I do not charge you by the hour. I get paid by the insurance companies, to make sure you are looked after. 

I do not stop because you stop paying my bill, like other professions. I might stop if you fire me, or you cancel your cover. While you have your cover, I am your person. I am the one who is going to kick the doors in and fight for you to get the things you need. 

Without a plan, you are going to struggle. Because you will be fighting to regain your health, while you are trying to save your business or your home. It does not need to be this way.

You need to call me and get that plan in place. Not next month, not next week, not tomorrow, Right Now!

End of rant for now :)