by Rob Hosking
Hill told Tower's road show in Wellington yesterday the biggest population increases in New Zealand over the past two censuses have been the 30-34 year bands, with almost as high increases through the rest of the 30s and into the early 40s."That is due to migration and to New Zealanders returning home. This is the sweet spot we you should be aiming at."
The company is launching a range of new products as the next phase of turning around Tower's health business, which made a loss last year.
A feature of the new products is adjusting premiums annually (Tower used to do it every five years) and on the basis of a customer's age, sex and smoker status.
"We are seeing two market trends; customers choosing only major medical cover, and customers increasing their excess to manage their health insurance premiums," says Tower Health & Life chief executive Steve Boomert.
The surgical cover policy limit has been lifted from $120,000 to $300,000, and there is a new $6000 excess level, which means a drop in the premium of 60% when compared with a nil excess."
"We really did agonise over that one," Hill says. "But we got quite a bit of feedback that having one excess premium, per policy was a real selling point."
The new range of products includes:
* Premier Health - a new fully underwritten product for individuals
* Premier Health, Business – an employer subsidised product for employees
* Easy Health – a product for individuals where no medical information is required at the time of applying and cover is offered on some pre-existing conditions after three years.
The changes take effect from 1 October.
Rob Hosking is a Wellington-based freelance writer specialising in political, economic and IT related issues.
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