nib vs Southern Cross Life

nib operates in New Zealand primarily as a health insurer, with a range extending to life and living or serious-illness cover. Southern Cross Life & Living Insurance is the life and living cover sold under the Southern Cross brand, and it is underwritten by Chubb Life.

So on one side of this comparison the brand and the risk underwriter are the same organisation, and on the other they are not. That is not a mark against either — brand and underwriter are separated all over the market — but it changes who you should be asking about wording and claims.

The bigger discipline is separating the two decisions. A health policy is judged on cover tier, non-Pharmac drug limits, specialist and diagnostic cover, excess structure and how premiums behave with age. A life or living policy is judged on definitions. The best answers are frequently at different companies.

Run the health comparison and the risk comparison separately. These six cover both.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• That a condition excluded on a health policy may still be accepted on risk cover, and the reverse.
• That switching health insurers restarts pre-existing condition assessment at the new insurer.
• Whether a member or multi-policy discount is conditional on holding both policies.
• Whether the risk cover offered is fully underwritten or simplified.
• Whether the maximum sums insured on the risk cover are enough for your mortgage and dependants.

Every New Zealand insurer writes life and living cover to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• An adviser quotes both insurers on matched terms — same sum insured, same structure, same waiting and benefit periods — which is the only way the numbers mean anything.
• Where a health history is not straightforward, an adviser can pre-assess it anonymously with both insurers before any formal application exists, so an unfavourable answer never lands on your record.
• Policy fees and multi-benefit discounts mean the cheaper per-benefit rate is often not the cheaper household total. An adviser models the total.
• An adviser compares health wordings on sub-limits and exclusions, which summaries do not describe accurately.
• Before any health switch, an adviser can establish in writing which conditions would become pre-existing at the new insurer.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.