Working Holiday Heath Insurance.

[alan999]

Can't believe it's 12 years since I was scouring these pages for my own immigration! However my son and his wife have now secured Working Holiday visas and plan to come out early next year. What are the health insurance requirements? Most say it is but the imm site says it's not necessary for ppl coming from a few countries, including the UK. If it isn't needed, anybody know to what extent is the cover, same as resident for example?

[JandM]

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...zealand/health This is the UK government telling you about the set-up. And here https://www.health.govt.nz/new-zeala...lth-agreements is the NZ government.

As you see, what is NOT covered is some not-threatening illness that crops up while they are there, or any flare-up of a pre-existing condition. Therefore, something unpleasant for the person but not to be considered drastic, perhaps like flu or an upset stomach, isn't covered. My OH on our last visit had had a small operation previously, and while we were there, the almost healed wound gave signs of infection, and visits to a GP for that had to be paid for, likewise the medication prescribed was charged by the pharmacist at a higher rate than would have been the case for NZ nationals or residents.

[alan999]

Thanks for your help. The advice seems a bit wishy washy, saying on one hand the cover is the same as citizens, then saying travelers should make sure they have adequate health insurance!

[JandM]

Cover is the same as for citizens IF the problem is serious enough to really NEED immediate investigation in hospital.

But there are lots of ailments a visitor can, which can be uncomfortable and worrying, but which don't come into the 'hospital, NOW' category, which you would have to pay a GP to look at, which a holiday insurance can cover you for so it doesn't have to come out of your working holiday spending budget - e.g. my OH's infection, an allergy, catching a bug.