Heart attack and stroke cover

Cardiac and stroke definitions are the most technical clauses in a trauma policy, because both diagnoses have precise clinical markers. That is good news for claimants in one sense — the assessment is objective rather than a matter of opinion — and bad news in another, because a diagnosis that a specialist treats as serious can still sit outside a contractual threshold.

Heart attack clauses in current New Zealand wordings generally require evidence of myocardial infarction: elevated troponin or another cardiac biomarker above a stated level, together with at least one of typical ischaemic symptoms, new ECG changes indicating infarction, or imaging showing new loss of viable myocardium. Older policies may use superseded markers or different thresholds, which can make them harder or easier to claim on than a current wording.

Stroke clauses typically require a cerebrovascular event producing neurological deficit that persists beyond a stated minimum period — often measured in weeks — with imaging confirmation. The requirement for a persisting deficit is what excludes transient events, and it is the provision most often misunderstood by claimants who were genuinely hospitalised.

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

• The biomarker threshold in the heart attack definition and what other evidence is required alongside it.
• The minimum period a neurological deficit must persist under the stroke definition.
• Whether angioplasty pays a partial benefit, and whether that reduces the remaining sum insured.
• Whether coronary artery surgery requires a stated number of vessels to be bypassed.
• The initial stand-down period applying to cardiac conditions.
• Whether a further cardiac event can be claimed later under a multiple-claim provision, which is often excluded as related.

Every New Zealand insurer writes trauma insurance in new zealand 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.

• Cardiac wordings differ between insurers and between product generations — an adviser can tell you which wording your existing policy is on.
• For applicants with a cardiac history, appetite differs markedly; an exclusion for cardiovascular conditions is a common alternative to a decline.
• Family history of heart disease is underwritten differently by different insurers, particularly where the relative was under 60.
• Where a policy is being replaced, cardiac and stroke definitions should be compared clause by clause, not by condition count.

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.