New Zealand life, health and income cover
Compare life insurance
without paying for cover
you do not need.
We match you to the right insurer for your situation. Simple, time-saving, and quite possibly cheaper. The advisers we work with do the heavy lifting — honest advice, no hard selling.
- Advisers quote across the market, not one insurer’s product range
- They know which insurer takes your health history on the best terms
- The premium is the same as going direct — the insurer pays the adviser
- If you already have enough cover, they will tell you so
The whole market, once
Registered advisers
No cost to you
Sized to your life
Where do you want to start
What are you actually trying to protect?
Most people start by asking what life insurance costs. The better first question is which risk would actually break your household — because for a lot of New Zealanders, that risk is not death. It is six months off work with an illness ACC does not cover.
My family
Life, trauma and TPD cover for the people who depend on you.
Life insurance
My income
A monthly benefit if illness or injury stops you earning. ACC does not cover illness.
Income protection
My mortgage
Cover sized to the loan, so the house is not the thing that has to be sold.
Mortgage protection
My health
A lump sum on diagnosis of a serious condition, and faster access to private treatment.
Trauma cover
My business
Shareholder, key person and debt cover — including the personal guarantee on your home.
Business protection
Cover I already have
Premiums climbing, cover you no longer understand, or a policy you have never read.
Review my cover
Our insurer panel
Advisers compare the major life insurers
One conversation, the whole panel. The recommendation fits you — not one insurer’s product range.
Insurer availability depends on the product, your age and your health. Not every insurer will be able to offer you cover. AA Life, Pinnacle Life, Westpac Life sell direct to the public only, so no adviser can place them for you. Asteron Life is sold through advisers but not on our panel today. We still cover all of them in our written comparisons.
The New Zealand gap
ACC is an accident scheme. It is not a sickness scheme.
Most New Zealanders assume ACC has them covered if they cannot work. It does — if the reason is an accident. If the reason is cancer, a heart condition, a mental illness or a degenerative back problem, ACC generally pays nothing at all.
That is the single biggest gap in the average New Zealand household’s financial position, and it is the reason income protection matters more than most people realise. It is also why insurance advice written for Australia or the UK does not translate here.
ACC covers
- Injury caused by an accident
- Injury caused by medical treatment
- Maternal birth injury
ACC does not
- Illness and disease — cancer, heart conditions, diabetes, kidney failure
- Mental illness on its own (mental injury is covered only in narrow circumstances)
- Conditions that come on gradually, unless they are work-related
Even when ACC does pay
- 80% of pre-injury earnings
- Weekly compensation replaces 80% of what you were earning, up to a weekly maximum. The other 20% is yours to absorb, however long you are off.
- Nothing in week one, unless you were hurt at work
- If you are injured at work your employer covers the first week. If you are injured anywhere else — at home, on the bike, on the field — you get nothing at all for that week, from ACC or your employer.
- Age 65 when the entitlement normally ends
- Weekly compensation usually stops when you become eligible for New Zealand Superannuation. It also stops three months after you are assessed as able to work in some other suitable job.
ACC entitlements correct as at 4 September 2026. Source: Accident Compensation Act 2001, ss 97–106 and Schedule 1. ACC entitlements change. Check acc.co.nz for the current position before you rely on any of this.
New Zealand, by the numbers
- 41%
- FSC research published in late 2024 found 41% of respondents held life insurance and 39% held health insurance. Over 90% of those who held life and health cover believed their policies offered good value for money.
- Financial Services Council, “Money & You: Managing Risk Through Challenging Times”, December 2024
- $3.26 billion
- Total in-force life insurance premiums in New Zealand reached an all-time high of $3.26 billion in the quarter ending 30 September 2025, while the total number of covers fell 0.3% on the previous quarter.
- Financial Services Council, Life Insurance Industry Spotlight, September 2025
- 4,293
- In the year to 30 June 2025 the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman scheme received 4,293 consumer approaches and accepted 600 disputes for investigation. Life, health and disability insurance accounted for 29% of them.
- Insurance Business NZ, reporting IFSO Scheme figures, 2025
The questions people actually ask
We write about the parts of New Zealand insurance that nobody else covers properly: how underwriting really works, why claims get declined, how a payout is taxed, and where ACC stops.
- What life insurance costs in NZ
- How much cover do I actually need?
- Stepped vs level premiums
- ACC vs income protection
- Life insurance with a health condition
- Why life insurance claims get declined
- Is a life insurance payout taxable?
- Own occupation vs any occupation TPD
- Agreed value vs indemnity income protection
- What happens to your debt when you die
- Insurance occupation classes explained
- Compare all NZ life insurers
How this works
Four steps, and you can stop at any of them
Nothing here commits you to anything. There is no application until you say so, and no cost to you at any point.
- 1
You tell us what you are looking at
One short form. No medical questions on a web page — that conversation happens properly, with the adviser.
About two minutes
- 2
A licensed adviser calls
They ask who depends on you, what you owe, what you already hold, and what you are actually worried about.
Usually within one business day
- 3
They compare the market
Quotes across the major insurers, checked against which of them will take your health history on the best terms.
The heavy lifting, done for you
- 4
You decide, in your own time
A written recommendation you can sit on, question or ignore. No obligation and no hard selling.
No pressure, no deadline
Common questions
Does using an adviser cost more than going direct to an insurer?
No. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so the premium is the same either way. What you gain is someone who knows which insurer will take your health history on the best terms, and who handles the claim.
Is BestLifeInsurance.co.nz an insurer?
No. We are a referral service. We do not sell insurance, quote premiums or give financial advice. When you complete a form here your enquiry goes to a licensed New Zealand adviser firm whose Registered Financial Service Providers compare the market and provide the advice.
What does it cost to use this site?
Nothing. There is no fee to you at any stage, and no obligation to buy anything. If the outcome of the conversation is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.
Which insurers can be compared?
Our panel is Partners Life, AIA, Fidelity Life, Chubb Life and nib, and one enquiry compares all five. We also write about the insurers we cannot place — Asteron Life, which sells through advisers we are not appointed with, and AA Life, Pinnacle Life and Westpac Life, which sell direct to the public. Which insurer can actually offer you cover depends on the product, your age, your occupation and your health.
Will I be chased with phone calls?
Your details go to one licensed adviser, not to a list of insurers and not to a call centre. We do not sell your data. You choose whether the conversation goes any further.
Ready to see your options?
One form, one licensed New Zealand adviser, a written comparison across the major insurers.