A growing number of New Zealanders are opting to travel overseas for medical procedures, driven by lengthy wait times and high costs within the local healthcare system.
However, industry experts caution that many of these “medical tourists” are not securing insurance for their planned treatments, leaving themselves exposed to significant financial and health risks if complications arise.
Travel insurance providers in New Zealand, such as Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI), report that their standard policies are not designed to cover elective or pre-arranged procedures performed outside the country.
Jess Strange, chief customer officer at SCTI, explained that travel insurance is intended for unforeseen events, not scheduled surgeries.
“While we don't cover it, what we do see is the high cost of procedures overseas for when things do go wrong. So, things like getting a post-op infection, which could cause sepsis, strokes, heart attacks, or allergic reactions… the cost can be significant,” she said, as reported by Stuff.
In cases where a New Zealander suffers a complication from surgery performed overseas, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) may provide limited support.
Stewart McRobie, ACC’s deputy chief executive for corporate and finance, noted that ACC coverage is only possible if the injury meets specific criteria and the treatment was performed to New Zealand’s equivalency standards.
“In the case of medical complications following a surgery that occurred overseas, such as bariatric surgery, this may be covered as a treatment injury if the injury met the treatment injury criteria, and the person was ordinarily resident in New Zealand, but only if the treatment met ACC’s equivalency standards,” he said, as reported by Stuff.
Although travel insurance does not extend to the planned medical procedure itself, it can still provide coverage for unrelated incidents, provided the insurer is informed about the surgery in advance.
Allan Dunn, SCTI’s head of claims, said: “If there’s issues like lost baggage, cancelled flights, or unrelated medical emergencies, there’s still the benefits that you’ll be afforded by the policy.”
Strange shared examples of the high costs associated with medical emergencies overseas, unrelated to planned procedures.
“We had a customer who had a stroke in the USA and that claim was US$250,000 to cover. There was another customer that had a haemorrhage in Greece, and that was over US$115,000, and then we had another who had a heart attack and that was US$130,000,” she said.
SCTI has reported cases where claims were denied because travellers did not declare their intention to undergo surgery overseas.
“We recently had an instance of a traveller not declaring they were headed overseas for medical tourism and who subsequently experienced issues,” she said. “While we unfortunately had to decline their claim, we did support the traveller with advice.”
In the event of a death overseas, families without insurance are responsible for repatriation costs, which can be substantial.
SCTI has recently observed a steady volume of claims related to respiratory and mosquito-borne illnesses among New Zealand travellers during the winter months.
Between May and July, the insurer processed over 130 fever-related claims, as well as claims for pneumonia, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and dengue fever. In one instance, a dengue fever case resulted in treatment costs exceeding $6,000.
