The number of New Zealanders covered by health insurance is rising as employers become aware offering health insurance is an incentive to attract and retain staff, Health Funds Association chairman Geoff Annals says.
Statistics published yesterday by the association showed nearly 1.4 million New Zealanders had health insurance, up 1.5% on a year ago.
About 15,000 of the 20,100 additional people covered were in the 20 to 64-year age group. About 11,000 of them were aged between 25 and 39.
Writing in the association annual report, Mr Annals said the rise reflected the increase in employment generally and helped companies meet their new workplace health and safety responsibilities.
Emphasis had previously been on safety concerns but now health was being recognised as equally important.
Employee health had an impact on the work place, such as through productivity and absenteeism.
Health insurance funded a record $1.2 billion in healthcare in the last year, up 5.4% in the previous corresponding period.
The amount had doubled over the past decade as New Zealanders had accessed a greater volume and wider range of services and treatments, Mr Annals said.
A significant number of those claims were paid to the over-60 age group and for elective surgery - about $500 million in health care claims.
The association predicted health insurance would fund more than $2 billion in health care costs for the over-60s over the next four years, as the demographic grew at the same time as more people aged 60 and over retained their health insurance, Mr Annals said.
''The health insurance sector is aware of the pressures surrounding health care funding in this country, both currently and in the future as the population ages.
''We know we have the capacity to play a greater role to relieve pressure on government budgets and the public sector.''
Despite large and ongoing increases in the government budget for the public health care sector, there would never be enough funding to satisfy all health care demand from taxpayer funding, he said.
Private health insurance could play a larger role than at present - both in routinely funding high-cost treatments which most people could not afford otherwise and, increasingly, in promotion of overall good health and wellbeing.
As only 28.5% of New Zealanders were collectively funding more than $1.2 billion in health care annually through health insurance, there was potential for the sector to achieve much better health outcomes for the nation if that percentage could be lifted, Mr Annals said.
The coalition Government had demands placed on its health budget during its first months in office, including boosts to both operating and capital spending.
At the same time, the Government had foreshadowed a new way of approaching next year's Budget, having a focus on well-being, including measures for such things as physical and mental health.
As a sector, health insurers had an opportunity to contribute to those outcomes in a co-ordinated way alongside the public sector, he said.
