There are a number of ways to insure babies and children. Let us start at the beginning, pregnancy and conception.

In New Zealand currently, assistance with conception is limited to what is publicly funded. Private medical insurance does not cover conception issues; it can cover some pregnancy issues though.

What can you have covered once you are pregnant?

The public system is well equipped for dealing with pregnancy. It is unlikely you will need additional assistance that requires funding if you have a normal pregnancy.

If you do have complications with your pregnancy, then there are provisions under most medical insurance policies specialists and tests benefits to assist with private specialist costs. What you do need to consider are the finer points of the policy, this is where your adviser comes in.

Two medical insurers have changed or added to their products this month. NIB the insurer who took over Tower Medical last year and the largest medical insurer in the New Zealand market, Southern Cross.

So what have they done?

If you are familiar with Tower Medical they had Premier Health and Easy Health in their product range. NIB have added Basic, Mid, Ultimate and Ultimate Max policy options to their mix. Making it both more flexible in building the medical insurance products for you but also making it more complex to understand the nuances of the different policies, which is where we as advisers come in.

This is an area of health care often mis-understood until you are in the thick of your treatment and you find out things may not be as you expected.

Pharmac is the governments answer to managing health care costs and getting the best deal for New Zealanders health care dollar. The challenge is that health care dollar, which is funded from your taxes, only goes so far.