NZ, You’re underinsured
Fact is Most New Zealanders are under-insured
This speaks to our “she’ll be right” attitude which is putting Kiwis in danger of losing their livelihoods as a result of serious medical events. Insurance products are available and effective, they simply offset the risks involved in high cost incidents so what is that we not getting through as industry participants?
In 2011 Massey University released a report showing the state of the county as it relates to insurance. The report “Exploring Under-insurance within New Zealand” found us to be the third lowest ranked of 31 OECD countries for personal insurances.
The study found that consumers knew the value in taking insurance, considered themselves risk-adverse, and they even stated that they are willing to pay to offset risk yet would still not have adequate cover in place (no insurance or too little). These are some of the figures released in that study:
Kiwis are under-insured by:
· $195bn for Life Insurance
· $58bn for Trauma/Critical Illness
· $3bn a month for Income Protection
Skip forward to 2018 and the “Gambling on Life” research, commissioned by Financial Services Council (FSC), provides the same findings: we are under-insured. The common themes through both these studies that I found the most interesting, albeit not the most surprising were:
· Product understanding (too complex)
· Lack of trust in the industry
· Unaware of the risks
· Reliance on public systems (ACC and Welfare) without understandings their limitations
I could, and will, write a blog post describing the limitations of both the public health system and ACC. They are doing a great job at what they do; the public health system is great for emergency medical care, and ACC is for accidents, but this will not meet all of your needs.
People need to get their foot in the door with insurance to get to understand it, and it needs to affordable. It may be a bit arrogant to think I could make a dent in NZ’s underinsurance problem, but fact is that is the reason I put together Life Simple. It is a great “Starter-Kit” for those who do not have any life insurance in place and the discounts as far as I am aware are unmatched. Check eligibility, get your package put together and when you are ready to set down with me and have a lot at fully tailored and personalised package we can do that.
https://www.fsc.org.nz/bulletin_display/x_blog_code/2101.html