Life Insurance Company -

THE INSURANCE COMPANY provides the following services :

Life Insurance
Health Insurance
Income Protection
Trauma Insurance
Disability Insurance
Business Insurance
Funeral Cover
Mortgage protection

Living in New Zealand?.....How certain are Life’s Uncertainties?

How long can you expect to live?

1 in 6 males and 1 in 9 females over the age of 30 will die before they reach 65 - (Source: Statistics NZ (2004), NZ Life Tables 2000-2002)
A newborn girl can expect to live 81.1 years
A newborn boy 76.3 years - (Source: Statistics NZ (2004), NZ Life Tables 2000-2002)
Cancer is the leading cause of death, followed by Ischaemic heart disease then Cerebrovascular diseasae (Stroke) - (Source: NZ Mortality and Demographic data 2004), NZHIS

Why do you need Medical Insurance?

Medical inflation is currently running at 8-9%PA. At this rate it means real costs could double roughly every 10 years

This means a minor $12,000 operation today could cost $24,000 (in today's dollars)
In 20 years $48,000
In 30 years $96,000

“In the 12 months to October 31 2006, more than 13,000 patients were sent back to their GP, after earlier being promised treatment within six months, or put on active review, the waiting list for patients who are not quite sick or disabled enough but who might be soon. That number of patients told to go back to their doctors is more than four times higher than four years previously.”

Source – NZ Herald: Hospitals cull waiting lists by thousands, 29 Jan 2007

Ministry of Health Elective Services - May 2008:

2,947 patients waiting longer than six months for their first specialist assessment
1,616 patients without a commitment to treatment whose priorities are higher than the actual treatment threshold
4,091 patients given a commitment to treatment but not treated within six months

What are the chances that Trauma could affect you?

2 out of 5 people will suffer a critical illness before they reach 65 (Source: General Cologne Life RE. Australia 2002)

Heart Attack

In 2002 there were more people 'living with heart disease' than ever before
One in twenty adults have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. That's 161,000 adults and includes 118,500 with angina and 89,400 who have had a heart attack resulting in them being hospitalised.Source – New Zealand Heart Foundation
80% of first Heart Attack patients are still alive after one year (Source: Swiss Re life and Health)

Cancer

50% of cancer patients are still alive after 3 years (Source: Swiss Re Life and Health)
There were 10,143 male and 9080 female new registrations in 2004. The male age-standardised registration rate (355.5 per 100,000 males) exceeded the female rate (291.4 per 100,000 females).
Among males, prostate cancer was the most commonly registered cancer (2693 cases, just under 27 percent of male registrations), with an age-standardised rate of 94.6 registrations per 100,000 males.
Among females, breast cancer was the most commonly registered cancer (2339 cases, nearly 26 percent of all female registrations), with an age-standardised rate of 81.7 cases per 100,000 females.
The most common types of cancer vary with age—leukaemia among children and youth; malignant melanoma of the skin
among 25–44 year-old males; breast cancer among 25–44 year old females; prostate cancer among males 45 years and older;
and cancer of the breast among females 45 years and older.Source – NZHIS, Cancer: New Registrations and Deaths 2004
7 women a day are diagnosed with Breast Cancer (NZ Breast Cancer Foundation)

Stroke

Every day, 22 New Zealanders have a stroke.
On average, we have a 1:8 chance of having a stroke in our lifetime
Approximately one third die within the first month. At six months 80 per cent of the survivors will be living at home. Of these, 50 per cent will have some disability as a consequence of their stroke, many requiring ongoing community support, 30 per cent will be living at home independent in all activities for daily living. Twenty per cent will be in rest homes or private hospitals.
There are 56,000 stroke survivors in New Zealand, many of whom are disabled and need significant daily support.
25 per cent of Stroke sufferers will be below 65 years. The average age of stroke occurrence is: Maori - 56 years, Pacific Islands - 60 years, European New Zealander - 73 years.
Stroke recovery can continue throughout life, but there is little ongoing rehabilitation provided for stroke survivors nationally.
Stroke is a medical emergency – yet most New Zealanders do not have access to acceptable stroke hospital services. Source – The Stroke Foundation of New Zealand & http://www.everybody.co.nz

Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting approximately 17,000 to 21,000 New Zealanders. Of this, only 8500 to 10,500 will be diagnosed. An additional 1000 to 2000 new cases emerge each year.
Age is the greatest risk factor for dementia. Dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65 and one in five over the age of 80. The majority of these will have Alzheimer's disease. Source http://www.everybody.co.nz

Intensive Care

There are 31 intensive care units in New Zealand which care for 20,000 patients annually – 85% survive
Typical conditions for intensive care include road or fall trauma involving brain, spinal or internal injuries, overwhelming infections in vital organs such as pneumonia, severe breathing difficulties and cardiovascular conditions
Source – www.scoop.co.nz – Intensive care appeal article 1/10/02
Of the 1208 patients treated in the intensive care unit in 2002, approximately 15% died in hospital (10% in intensive care). Of the
1009 patients who survived hospital, 72 had died within a year of being discharged.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz – Intensive care unit gets good diagnosis article 06/01/06

What are the chances that you won’t be able to work due to disability?

2 out of 5 people will be unable to work for 6 months or more because of sickness or an accident at sometime between the ages of 30 and 65 (Source: ACC BERL Report 1996)
12% of New Zealanders have moderate or severe disabilities (Source: Statistics NZ (2002), Disability counts (2001)
The leading cause of disability is disease or illness (40%) followed by accident or injury (30%)(Source: Statistics NZ (2001) Disability Survey)
5 out of every 10 males and 7 out every 10 females, aged 25 years are likely to become disabled due to an accident or illness before they turn 65 (Source: Davies Financial and Acturial Limited)
ACC is not always available in all situations and when available, at modest levels, it covers accident only
Your income over a lifetime could amount to over 2 million dollars! (take your current income and multiply it by the number of years you have until retirement – age 65)