Costs Covered for Medicals?

[Rease]

I'm not even sure how to reference this question!

My partner was referred to a specialist. We have already paid out near $1K in medical costs for another specialist that was looking for something else and found nothing, but thought maybe he should see another specialist instead. The next specialist just sent a letter saying his costs are near $2K because they want to do all sorts of other tests. (His GP is already treating him with medication, and said it's all nothing to be worried about.) My question is this: we are both working in NZ (two-year work visas) and *are* entitled to the public health system -- would any of these specialist labs or costs possibly be covered? If these tests were not for Immigration, would they cover the costs then? We have never really had to go to the doctor for anything other than a check-up, so I'm not even sure how the public health works in NZ, and what or when they cover medical expenses.

Rease

[JandM]

I don't know. Anyone who has been through this, anything you can contribute, please?

[BoerieNZ]

Hi Rease

When you were granted with the 2 year work visa, was the medical condition present? Or is your partner's medical condition something that developed recently which you disclosed on your SMC Application? The reason why I'm asking is; if the medical condition was present at the time you applied for your 2 year work visa and you were given an acceptable standard of health, those medical certificates should still be valid. I would think that a referral to a specialist in NZ should be covered if you have been referred by a GP, but be warned, you could end up waiting a long time for an appointment - which is why a lot of people end up paying via private healthcare or just privately themselves.

https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/li...hcare-services

"In New Zealand, if you need to see a medical specialist you have to start by going to your GP for a referral.

Specialists work in both the public and private healthcare systems. You can only choose a particular specialist if you go through New Zealand’s private health system.

The privately-operated website Healthpoint has useful information about specialist medical care in New Zealand, the treatments they offer and what you need to get referred."

[Rease]

Hi there - so sorry for the late reply. The short answer to your question of whether these issues existed previously is yes, and no! There were a few issues previously that they wanted him to check again when we apply for residency. However, during those checks, another issue has come up, so that is our current “hold up”. *Much* has transpired in the past month, and too long to detail here at the moment, but the long story made short is he has been cleared of any issues that existed previously (after much expense with tests and specialist fees), however, another issue came up that is a bit frustrating because his GP in CC (who has monitored these levels over the past year) has said for the past year that his levels are not anything to be concerned about yet, but that he will just continue to monitor his numbers. But, the specialist he saw for the other issue he was cleared of didn’t know he had been being monitored by his GP, so he suggested in his report to INZ that he see another specialist for the matter. So, rather than just have his GP continue to monitor, we had to see this other specialist and we are in the process of waiting to be cleared for those things, which will hopefully be soon. When we are through this whole mess, I will write a post detailing what has transpired, so that I can hopefully be of help for any other future applicants with the same issues and questions. I also found out the answer to my original question of ‘what would be covered and by whom’. It is as you mentioned — if the GP makes the referral, you have to wait for the public health system to have a time available for the required tests/appointments. Or, you can pay out of pocket and be seen earlier if you’d like. If the Specialist makes the referral, you pay out of pocket. And by the way - a case officer isn’t even assigned to our application yet. They are waiting to make sure he passes the medicals before they even assign one. I can totally understand their reasoning for wanting to do that, but, we have paid for our application to be reviewed. It would be nice if they came up with a system where you could go through the process of medicals, and then once you pass them, THEN you pay for the application to be processed. The amount of money we have paid in medical appointments and application fees has been a lot. We hope to be cleared of medical issues soon; that our application is assigned a case officer, and the application gets reviewed soon. This application process is not for the faint-hearted!