Newsletter Nov – 2014

Hi there It has been a very interesting past few months in the Insurance Industry. Some of you may have seen on television or read in the newspaper that the country’s largest health insurer Southern Cross was moving to an affiliate provider network. Whilst this in itself is probably a sensible move by Southern Cross, to try to control the escalating costs of care for its ageing client base, it does raise a couple of major concerns. The first concern that we have is that clients no longer get a choice of who provides their care. Furthermore, even if they have had a bad experience with a particular Specialist in the past, they may still end up having to deal with that Specialist, simply because they are affiliated to Southern Cross. Another point is whether this will generate waiting lists for private medical patients? Surely the purpose of having cover is to avoid waiting lists and get treatment when and where you want, by the Specialist of your choice. The last and, in our opinion, most disturbing thing to come out of this move by Southern Cross is that they have notified clients that have been loyal to them for many years in some cases that they have the right to change the terms under which the clients are insured, by simply giving them 30 days notice in writing. This is a very dangerous position for any client to be left in. Whilst we don’t expect any major changes to policy terms and conditions for Southern Cross clients in the near future, it may be that, as costs continue to escalate, covers on some policies may be downgraded or some procedures no longer be covered. We choose Partners Life for our medical policies not only because, in our opinion, they have the best medical policy on the market, but also because their policies have guaranteed wordings. This means they can only upgrade your cover and never downgrade it. Makes sense to us! Until next time all the best. The Team at Welsh & Associates Ltd.