Placing Your Southern Cross Health Insurance On Hold While Overseas

From conversing with a lot of our clients, we have found that many of them are unaware that it if you are leaving New Zealand for a protracted period of time (up to 12 months), you do not have to cancel your Southern Cross Health Insurance Policy. You can instead place your policy on hold, to be resumed when you arrive back in the country, saving yourself considerable time and stress in cancelling and reestablishing your health insurance. Also, if you have to cancel your insurance, you will also lose cover for any pre-existing conditions you may have when you are re-insured, giving a good impetus to put your policy on hold rather than cancelling it altogether.

Here is all the information, terms and conditions from the Southern Cross Health Society.

"You can only place your policy on hold if you are travelling overseas,

You must have completed one year's continuous membership since the date you joined Southern Cross or since the end of your last on hold period.

You must place your policy on hold before leaving New Zealand.

You must pay premiums up to the date you leave New Zealand.

You can only place a policy on hold three times per policy lifetime.

Two months is the minimum on hold period for a policy.

12 months is the maximum time a policy may be placed on hold for.

Reinstating your policy.
If you return to New Zealand within two months, your policy will be reinstated from the date it was placed on hold. Premiums will then be due for the time you have been away.

If you return to New Zealand within 12 months, you need to contact us within 30 days of returning to New Zealand. You will need to provide documentation showing your dates of departure and arrival.

If you are away longer than a year, you need to contact us within 30 days of your 12 month on hold period to reinstate your health insurance. You will need to provide documentation showing your date of departure.

Premium payments will start again once your policy has been reinstated.

If you don't make contact you may have to rejoin Southern Cross as a new member. This means any pre-existing conditions won't be covered and your current plan type may not be available."

If you have any further questions about placing your policy on hold or about insurance in general, contact enquiry@sprattfinancial.co.nz for more information.

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