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International health insurance for New Zealander digital nomads

Your home cover does not follow you abroad

If you are a New Zealander abroad, almost nothing follows you. Publicly funded healthcare is free only when used in New Zealand, ACC does not pay your overseas medical bills, and the two reciprocal agreements, with the UK and Australia, cover only immediately necessary public treatment, never repatriation. Everywhere else you are fully self-pay, and the government is explicit it cannot fund the medical costs or medical evacuation of Kiwis overseas. You carry your own travel or international health insurance.

How long your home cover lasts abroad

Effectively none. New Zealand's public system funds care used in New Zealand, not abroad, and there is no scheme that reimburses you for routine treatment in another country. The reciprocal agreements with the UK and Australia cover only immediately necessary care on a temporary stay; outside those two countries there is no public safety net at all.

What breaks when you leave

ACC, the accident scheme, does not pay your overseas hospital or treatment bills; it mainly helps with treatment and rehabilitation once you are back in New Zealand, and it is not a substitute for travel insurance. The UK and Australia agreements exclude non-urgent treatment, rehabilitation and repatriation. And the government will not step in: SafeTravel states it cannot fund the medical costs or medical evacuations of Kiwis who travel or live overseas.

What you need instead

For trips, comprehensive travel insurance bought before you go, covering medical treatment, hospitalisation, medical evacuation and your planned activities, with pre-existing conditions declared. For living abroad long term, an international health plan rather than a short-stay travel policy, since neither the public system nor ACC follows you and the reciprocal agreements only help on temporary stays in two countries.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming ACC covers you overseas; it does not pay your overseas medical bills and is not travel insurance
  • Treating the UK or Australia reciprocal agreement as full cover; it is immediately-necessary public care only, with no repatriation
  • Expecting the New Zealand government to fund an evacuation; SafeTravel says it cannot
  • Thinking the public system reimburses care you get abroad; it funds treatment in New Zealand only
  • Relying on a reciprocal agreement outside the UK and Australia; there are only those two
  • Skipping evacuation cover; it is the costliest item and nothing public will pay it
  • Buying travel cover without declaring pre-existing conditions

Our take

For New Zealanders the safety net basically ends at the border. ACC is for getting you patched up back home, not for the hospital bill in Bali, and the two reciprocal deals stop at urgent public care in the UK and Australia.

Carry comprehensive travel cover with medical evacuation for trips and an international plan once you live abroad. The line that should settle it is the government's own: it cannot fund the medical costs or medical evacuations of Kiwis overseas.

FAQ

The public system funds care used in New Zealand only. ACC does not pay your overseas medical bills; it mainly helps with rehabilitation once you are home, and it is not a substitute for travel insurance.

Only the UK and Australia, and only immediately necessary public treatment during a temporary stay. They do not cover non-urgent treatment, rehabilitation or repatriation.

No. SafeTravel states the government cannot fund the medical costs or medical evacuations of Kiwis who travel or live overseas.

Comprehensive travel insurance with medical evacuation for trips, and an international health plan for living abroad. Declare any pre-existing conditions.

Yes. The agreements are not full cover, with no repatriation or rehabilitation, so Health NZ itself advises comprehensive travel insurance including health cover.

Reviewed by Lukas Schönberg, Founder & researcher, Nomad Insurance Broker OÜ

Nomad Insurance Broker OÜ (Estonia) is an information and matching platform, not currently registered as a regulated insurance intermediary in any jurisdiction. See /how-it-works for the full disclosure.

Source: safetravel.govt.nzLast verified

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