Insurance for allied health professionals

Allied health is a group of registered professions where the professional standing suggests a light occupation class and the daily work suggests something heavier. A physiotherapist doing manual therapy, a chiropractor performing adjustments or an occupational therapist transferring patients is doing physical work with real load on hands, wrists, shoulders and lower back. Insurers vary in how much weight they give to that, which is precisely why the duties should be described rather than left to a job title.

The clinical risk is well understood within the professions themselves. Thumbs, wrists and lower backs are the parts that fail, and they fail gradually. An osteopath with degenerative thumb joints has an occupational disability that no accident caused, which puts it outside ACC and squarely inside private income protection and TPD — assuming the definition is right.

Many allied health practitioners are also business owners. A small physiotherapy or podiatry clinic has premises, equipment, reception staff and often other practitioners. A substantial share of a New Zealand clinic’s revenue can come from treating ACC clients under contract, which is income that stops immediately if the practitioner stops treating.

That produces the same two-part problem dentists have: personal income on one side, business overheads on the other, with different products for each.

The band you are given depends on how the application characterises your week. Precision helps here, because the alternative is a generic code.

• Say what proportion of your time is hands-on treatment versus assessment, exercise prescription, administration and supervision.
• Say whether you lift or transfer patients, and how often.
• Say whether you work in a clinic, in homes, in aged care, or on a sports field — each has a different risk profile.
• Say whether you own the practice and how much of your week is management.
• If you also work part-time in a hospital or a sports organisation, describe both roles.

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

• Whether the occupation has been rated on hands-on treatment or on a generic “health professional” code.
• Whether income protection and TPD use own-occupation definitions.
• Whether partial disability benefits allow for a reduced caseload rather than requiring you to stop entirely.
• Exclusions on existing wrist, thumb, shoulder or back conditions — the exact parts your work depends on.
• If you own a clinic, whether business expenses cover reflects rent, staff and equipment finance.
• How reliant clinic revenue is on you personally treating, as opposed to other practitioners billing.

Every New Zealand insurer writes cover for allied health professionals 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.

• Allied health professions are rated inconsistently across insurers, and a careful duties description can move you a band.
• Own-occupation definitions are usually available to these professions but are not always offered by default.
• Clinic owners need personal and business cover arranged together, including cover for any partner or co-owner.
• Where a hand or back condition already exists, choosing the right insurer changes whether it is excluded outright or accepted.

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.