You may not be aware but as part of your NZEI Te Riu Roa union membership, you and your whānau are entitled to supplementary healthcare created by NZEI Te Riu Roa and designed to benefit you in everyday life – not just when you’re sick.
HealthCarePlus is the trading name for The Education Benevolent Society Incorporated which was established in 1963 to enable teachers, education sector members and their whānau to access competitive insurance products to support whānau health and provide financial protection for unforeseen events.
"NZEI Te Riu Roa is proud to be one of the founding union owners of HealthCarePlus. It's a not-for-profit health insurer created by union members for union members to provide low cost insurance to cover you (and your whanau's) day-to-day medical costs”.Andrew Casidy, General Manager – Operations NZEI
Coverage through HealthCarePlus is more generous with less of the usual barriers and exclusions to join. It’s designed to maximise the benefits paid to members, not minimise them and importantly, once you’re a member - you and your whānau can enjoy the benefits, not just for the rest of your union membership, but for the rest of your life.
“NZEI Members are the largest group of HealthCarePlus subscribers who recognise the real value for money products they can get, who like dealing with an organisation with a Member first, values driven approach and who know the benefits of working collectively to look after each other”.
Andrew Casidy, General Manager – Operations NZEI
Today, over 58 years later, LITTLE has changed with that vision.
"As a Union owned Co-Operative we continue to have Benevolence and strong Union Values entrenched in our DNA, it is who we are."
John Seed, CE HealthCarePlus
That said, some things have changed for the better as HealthCarePlus continues to adapt and re-organise to support NZEI Te Riu Roa members and their whānau’s health and wellbeing in today's fast changing environment.
In 2018 the Board of HealthCarePlus undertook a fundamental review of the organisation. As a result they decided to enter into a partnership with UniMed to ensure that HealthCarePlus could continue to provide high quality and sustainable healthcare plans for all members now and into the future. UniMed are a larger, but also union owned not-for-profit health insurer and they are now responsible for managing the range of day-to-day health insurance plans offered by HealthCarePlus.
In 2019 HealthCarePlus received Charitable Status and is now working with NZEI Te Riu Roa and its other union owners in developing the means of distributing returns from existing investments as Charitable Education Grants.
So today, HealthCarePlus doesn’t just provide healthcare, it helps to support and increase the physical, mental and financial wellbeing of all its members. The not-for-profit does this through supporting research, providing relevant advice to NZEI members, and now, by reinvesting any excess surplus it makes into charitable grants that provide funded research opportunities in support of NZEI Te Riu Roa's values and objectives.
HealthCarePlus, together with NZEI Te Riu Roa, will be making the first distribution of Charitable Education Grants in late 2020, with a call for applications announced in late June 2020. Keep a look out for more information on the new Charitable Education Grants coming soon.
In the meantime , if you're an NZEI Te Riu Roa Member and not yet a HealthCarePlus member, why not take a closer look?"
And remember - HealthCarePlus was created by NZEI Te Riu Roa who protect your rights at work - to protect your health in life.
HealthCarePlus - It’s Good to Belong
