Every major NZ insurer. One adviser.
Life, income, trauma: Asteron, AIA, Partners Life, Fidelity Life, Chubb, Cigna. Health: Southern Cross, nib, Accuro, AIA, Partners Life. We pick the insurer whose policy wording, premium and underwriting attitude actually fits the client.
TL;DR
NZ insurance is sold through three main channels: direct from the insurer, through banks, or through advisers. Direct and bank channels generally sell one insurer's product. Advisers compare across the market. Wealth Health writes cover with all the major NZ life, income, trauma and health insurers and picks based on the situation, not the brand. No insurer is best at everything; the job is matching the right insurer to the right client.
- Life, income, trauma panel: Asteron Life, AIA, Partners Life, Fidelity Life, Chubb Life, Cigna.
- Health panel: Southern Cross, nib, Accuro, AIA, Partners Life.
- How we pick: age, health history, occupation, claim scenarios most likely to matter, premium structure.
Three insurers will quote, six will not.
If you ring three insurers directly and ask for life cover, all three will quote you and all three will sell you a policy. The differences between those three policies, on paper, look small. A few hundred dollars of annual premium. A slightly different benefit definition. The same words: "life cover", "income protection", "trauma".
The differences at claim time are not small. Two trauma policies that both say "covers cancer" will define cancer differently. One will pay on early-stage prostate cancer; another will not. One will pay on a benign brain tumour requiring surgery; another will not. One income protection policy will pay during a phased return to work at reduced hours; another will not. The wording is the contract and the wording varies by insurer.
Beyond wording, the insurers themselves differ in underwriting attitude. Two clients with the same medical history can get materially different outcomes from two insurers: one offers full cover at standard rates, the other declines or loads heavily. The right adviser knows which insurer is likely to look favourably on which medical histories and structures the application accordingly. This is invisible work that pays off at issue, not at claim.
A panel of insurers also gives the adviser leverage. If one insurer's premium creeps up unjustifiably, or their claims service deteriorates, the adviser can move the next client to a different insurer without any loyalty cost. Direct channels and single-insurer agents cannot do this.
The major NZ life insurers.
Six insurers, each with a profile we pick them for.
Asteron Life
One of NZ's largest life and disability insurers, owned by Suncorp. Particular strength in income protection wording, with definitions that often favour professional and white-collar occupations. Pricing is consistent across age bands and underwriting is generally pragmatic. Often our pick where income protection is the centre of the cover plan.
AIA New Zealand
One of NZ's two largest life insurers, having acquired Sovereign in 2018 and integrated it. Broad product range across life, trauma, income protection and health, so a one-insurer solution is often possible when that suits the client. Strong technology and self-service tooling. Generally competitive on premium for younger clients.
Partners Life
Built specifically for adviser-channel distribution since 2011. Generally regarded as having some of the strongest trauma wording in the NZ market, with broader cancer and condition definitions than several competitors. Often our pick when the client has a complex medical history or where trauma cover is the priority. Underwriting team is responsive to broker advocacy.
Fidelity Life
NZ-owned (recently majority-owned by NZ Super Fund), one of the longer-established life insurers in the market. Solid mid-market option with competitive pricing on standard occupations. Useful when we need a price-competitive option for a healthy, standard-risk client. The NZ ownership matters to some clients.
Chubb Life
Global insurer with a meaningful NZ life and trauma book (formerly Tower Life, then ACE Life, now part of Chubb). Often competitively priced and useful where a specific wording fits a specific client situation better than the larger insurers. We use Chubb selectively, particularly for trauma cover where their condition list works for the client.
Cigna
Global insurer with NZ life and trauma offerings. Useful for clients who want a global-scale insurer behind the cover. We use Cigna where their wording is the cleanest fit, particularly for some specific trauma conditions and for clients with international exposure who may eventually need cover portability.
The major NZ health insurers.
Five insurers cover the vast majority of the NZ market between them.
Southern Cross Health Insurance
NZ's largest health insurer by membership, with a not-for-profit structure that recycles surpluses back into member benefits. Particularly competitive at older ages, where some commercial insurers' premiums climb steeply. Broad provider network, strong on day-to-day specialist consultations. The default option for many older clients.
nib New Zealand
Australian-owned, second-largest by membership. Strong digital and mobile workflow: app-based claims, fast pre-approvals, on-screen tracking of claim status. Useful for clients who want the admin to be invisible. Broad product range from basic surgical to full-cover plans with non-Pharmac drug benefits.
Accuro Health Insurance
Smaller NZ-owned not-for-profit health insurer. Often the best premium for younger members or in specific niches where Southern Cross and nib are both expensive. Useful for filling a niche cover gap or for clients who specifically prefer to support a smaller NZ-owned mutual.
AIA Health
Comprehensive health insurance from one of NZ's largest life insurers. Useful when the household wants a single insurer across life, trauma and health for relationship simplicity and any multi-policy discount. Competitive on premium for working-age clients.
Partners Life Health
Comprehensive health offering from the adviser-distribution insurer. Generally strong on policy wording and benefit definitions, with thoughtful structuring of non-Pharmac drug benefits. Often our pick where the client wants their health cover designed alongside their life and trauma cover from the same insurer.
Other options
The market also includes specialist health insurers for specific occupational groups (Police Health Plan, Unimed for some education-sector workers, NZDA for dentists). For most clients these aren't relevant; for the few clients who qualify they can be the most competitive option in the market.
Four inputs to the decision.
The job of an insurance adviser is to compress the differences between six life insurers and five health insurers into one written recommendation, with reasons. The process we use looks at four inputs.
One: client demographic and health history. Age, sex, smoker status, family medical history, personal medical history, occupation. Different insurers price these inputs differently and underwrite them differently. A 50-year-old with a family history of cardiovascular disease will get materially different offers from different insurers; the difference can be 30 to 50 percent of premium or, in some cases, the difference between standard rates and a substantial loading.
Two: scenario weighting. What claim is statistically most likely for this client? A 38-year-old with a family history of breast cancer needs trauma cover with a cancer wording that pays cleanly on early-stage diagnosis. A 50-year-old in a trade occupation needs income protection with a wording that doesn't unduly penalise musculoskeletal claims. We weight the scenario most likely to matter and pick the insurer whose wording is cleanest for that scenario.
Three: premium structure. Stepped vs level premium, indexation, whether the premium is age-banded annually or banded in 5-year blocks. Different insurers use different structures and the long-term cost can differ by tens of thousands of dollars across a 25-year cover term, even where the year-one premium is similar.
Four: service and claims reputation. Less measurable than the others but still important. Some insurers are known to be quick and pragmatic on claims; others are known to dispute. Adviser networks share this information across the broker community. We pay attention to it.
The written recommendation summarises all four inputs, the insurer we recommend, and why. The client signs off in writing before we apply.
Commission, disclosed in writing.
NZ personal insurance is overwhelmingly distributed on a commission-based model. Insurers pay the adviser an upfront commission when a policy is issued (typically a percentage of the first-year premium) and an ongoing servicing fee while the policy remains in force (typically a smaller percentage of the annual premium). The structure has been in place for decades and is the standard mechanism by which insurance advice is paid for in NZ.
The commission is fully disclosed in writing in the Statement of Advice before any policy is bound. The disclosure includes the specific commission amount the adviser will receive from the recommended insurer, and the equivalent amounts that would have been received from each other insurer considered. Where the recommended insurer pays a higher commission than alternatives, the recommendation must be justifiable on factors other than the commission itself.
Under the NZ Financial Markets Conduct Act and the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services, all financial advisers are required to put client interests first and to manage conflicts of interest transparently. We discuss commission structures openly in the first conversation and provide the written disclosure before any application is submitted.
There is no separate fee charged to clients for personal insurance advice. The work of comparison, application, underwriting support and at-claim advocacy is funded by the insurer commission.
About the panel, and how we use it.
Why does the insurer matter if products look similar?
Product names are similar, policy wordings are not. A "trauma" policy from two different insurers can pay on materially different lists of conditions, with different definitions for cancer, heart attack, stroke and major surgery. At claim time, the wording is the contract. Picking the wrong insurer for your situation can mean a declined claim on what felt like the same product.
Does Wealth Health get paid by these insurers?
Yes. Insurers pay an upfront commission to the adviser when a policy is issued, and in most cases an ongoing servicing fee while the policy is in force. The commission is the standard NZ insurance distribution model and is fully disclosed in writing before any policy is bound. We do not charge clients an additional advice fee for personal insurance.
How do you pick which insurer for a given client?
Four inputs. The client's age and health history (some insurers underwrite some conditions better than others). The client's occupation (income protection rates vary materially by insurer for manual occupations). The specific scenarios most likely to drive a claim for this client (cancer vs cardiovascular vs musculoskeletal, depending on family history). And the premium structure. We score each insurer against these inputs and present the recommendation in writing.
Is the largest insurer the best one?
No, and the question doesn't even make sense in NZ insurance. The largest insurer by market share isn't necessarily the best for any individual situation. Smaller insurers often have stronger wording in specific product lines, more competitive premiums for certain demographics, or better service in particular claim types. The right insurer is the one whose policy wording, premium and underwriting attitude best fits the specific client.
Can I switch insurers if my current one is getting expensive?
Yes, but with care. Moving an existing policy to a new insurer requires fresh underwriting at your current age and health. If your health has changed since the original policy was written, switching can mean losing cover for conditions that are now pre-existing. We model the savings against the cover risk before recommending any switch, and only move clients where the math is clearly favourable.
Are all NZ insurers financially stable?
All NZ life and health insurers are regulated by the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) and required to hold capital reserves against the cover they write. All major insurers on our panel hold strong international financial ratings (A.M. Best or Standard & Poor's). The risk of insurer insolvency in NZ is very low and has not been a real-world issue in the modern regulatory era. We monitor financial strength ratings as part of the panel review.
Want a fresh comparison across the panel?
15 minutes, no pitch. We'll work out which insurer's wording fits your situation cleanest and quote it against your current cover.