$1 billion milestone for health insurance

The level of claims paid was up 9.4% to $962 million in the year to March.

Chief executive Roger Styles said the $1 billion milestone would mark the contribution health insurance made to funding healthcare in New Zealand.

“At a time when the public sector budgets are constrained, it is important to remember that every dollar of healthcare funded through insurance is helping to free up resources in the public sector,” he said.

Younger generations knew that they would have to pay a greater share of their health costs in decades to come than their parents’ generation had, he said.