Pre-existing conditions?

The goal of health insurance is pretty simple. It’s designed to allow you and your loved ones to live a full and happy life, by helping you to prevent or treat the things that could slow you down or impact your health. Pre existing conditions may impact your success in a payout. Learn something new today. Read on…

You never know what could happen to you, right? So having good health cover may be a wise decision, even if you’re fit and well.

But for many people, it’s not the security of being covered against unexpected surprises they think about first. Instead, their focus is fear. In particular, the fear that they can’t get insurance cover for the health conditions they are already dealing with — anything from a weird looking mole to endometriosis.

Don’t worry – you have options

For many of us, fear can easily get in the way of doing the right thing. But finding out what health insurance could look like for you isn’t something to be intimidated by. At nib, we make it easy to get and understand the information you need, so you can make informed choices and make health insurance work for you.

If you’re nervous about pre-existing conditions, talk to us and we can help you to understand your options— the earlier in life you talk to us, the more likely you can be covered for things that happen as you get older.

What counts as a pre-existing condition*?

At NIB, we define a pre-existing condition under our nib Standard and Premium Hospital policies as any sign or symptom of any condition, or any condition, that fits any of the following:

• Something you knew about before you applied for health cover (like a knee injury from football, or a bowel problem you’ve been waiting to see a specialist about)
• A condition, sign or symptom you’ve previously asked a health professional to diagnose or give you advice about
• Something a reasonable person would seek diagnosis or medical advice about
• Something that was identified in diagnosis, even if you didn’t know about it
• A condition, sign or symptom that was treated before your health cover started

Just because something fits one of those definitions, it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be covered. It may just mean it will have a wait period before the pre-existing condition is covered.

Broadly speaking, pre-existing conditions fall under two categories when we’re looking at your cover options:

• Conditions that we will cover after you’ve been with nib for a specific period of time
• A small group of conditions we don’t provide cover for

Fairness comes first

Pre-existing conditions can happen to anyone. Sometimes it’s an illness and sometimes just bad luck. But the way we see it, everyone deserves access to good health cover. And whenever we can, we provide options to cover your pre-existing condition, so you’re not missing out. We think that’s fair — and a lot better than fear.

If you’re still unsure, the best thing is to talk to Peter Ogilvie. We can put your fears to rest and help you find a solution that works for you.

Contact Pete HERE.

T&Cs:

* The pre-existing condition wording relates to NIB Standard and Premium Hospital covers only. (text in italic)

Exclusions, waiting periods, eligibility criteria, benefit limits, excess payable, and full policy terms and conditions apply.

Information correct as at 08 October 2021