News and Stories

Helping our Members to achieve better health outcomes

Written by HealthCarePlus | 19 August 2024

The purchase of Insurance is different to most purchases that you make as you do not ‘experience’ insurance when you purchase it.  It is only when a claim is submitted and paid that you get to ‘experience’ your insurance and get to benefit from your purchase.  With car or house and contents insurance you may never get to ‘experience’ the benefit of your purchase unless you are unfortunate, and have a reason to make a claim. 

$6,386,799 worth of Primary health support in 2023/2024

This is where UniMed’s day-to-day healthcare plans* are different as all our Members get the chance.

Last year our Members regularly claimed on their day-to-day plans to the value of almost $6.4 million.  At HealthCarePlus we actively encourage our members to claim so it is very pleasing so see the amount of money that is being refunded to our members. 

The three most frequent benefits that were claimed for were:

  • 44.5% of claims paid were for medical and specialist visits and test,
  • 23% of claims was for Vision and Dental costs
  • 13.6% for complimentary treatments like physiotherapy, acupuncture, mental therapy and osteopaths   

The full breakdown is as follows:

Primary Care Claims Figures Covered Amount Gross % of Claim
Dental $713,270 11.2%
Optical $756,363 11.8%
Medical, Specialists & Tests $2,844,442 44.5%
Complementary Medical $803,024 12.6%
Complementary Medical (child) $65,205 1%
Major Diagnostic Imaging $152,236 2.4%
Hospital Treatment $325,723 5.1%
Hospital Excess Reimbursement $217,971 3.4%
Mental Health Consultation/Treatment $212,874 3.3%
Mental Health Counselling $40,556 0.6%
Bereavement Grant

$93,864

1.5%
Medical Appliance $87,121 1.4%
Birth Grant $16,400 0.3%
Orthodontic Treatment $52,042 0.8%
Sick leave without pay Grant $5,710 0.1%
Total Value $6,386,799 100%

 

If you would like to find out more about the Primary care plans, please click here.

 

Hospital Select Claims

With regards to UniMed's Hospital Insurance Plans*, which includes our Hospital Select Plan,  UniMed continued the good news by supporting their members through some  tough times.

And the top five dollar claims paid to members for the last quarter of the year (ending 30/06/2024) were:

  • $175,608 Laryngectomy procedure
  • $139,014 Head/Neck Reconstruction Surgery
  • $134,401 Posterior / Posterolateral Instrumented Lumbar Fusion and Decompression, 1 Level
  • $113,741 Anterior Lumbar Fusion
  • $110,941 Aortic Valve Replacement via Sternotomy

Of course it's not all about the dollars in those numbers but how much we can support or members in their moments of need or help them change their lives for the better.  It also highlights the role that hospital Insurance plays in meeting the health requirements of our Members.   

 

“The public health system does a fantastic job looking after acute urgent medical issues, but our health insurance plan gives our Members access to elective surgical procedures and specialist consultations when they need it and choice about where they receive it,” 

- John Seed, CE, HealthCarePlus

 

If you would like to find out more about our Hospital Select plan, please click here.

(*) Primary Care, Primary Care Extra, #care4U and Hospital Select are underwritten by Union Medical Benefits Society Ltd (UniMed).  We partnered with UniMed because like us, they strive to provide people like you and your whānau with better access to health and wellbeing care, and to support you when you need it most.