[Howie]

I am so confused about the health care system. My employer offers health insurance and I've just asked for the information, but in the meantime I need to go to the doctor. I probably just need a prescription, but would like to get it sooner rather than later.
Could anyone offer a comparison (with and without insurance) of going to the doctor and getting a prescription in terms of costs and time? Should I just wait until I can my insurance sorted out? How do you find a doctor?

Sorry, but I'm clueless...

[Smiler]

Hi Howie

I'm just doing this at the moment. The list of doctors should be in the front of the phone book or you can get them from the PHO.

The cost of the doc's here in Welly is about $55 average per visit, plus prescription. Karen (kk) might be able to help you out more there as she is a pharmacist.

You can go to any doc's who has their books open, so near where you work or live. You get the prsecription and take it to the pharmacist, sometimes next door, and get the script straightaway.

Probably the easiest source of information about the practices, their fees etc is through the PHO's management service, WIPA. Do you have that in Auckland.

I can't be any help for the cost of private health care in NZ sorry.

I hope you are feeling better soon

[sizzlingbadger]

Should be a local one in your area, if you can ask your neighbours or look it up in the Telephone Directory.

You can go without insurance. Ours in Featherston costs $45 per visit. This does vary and I know some doctors in Wellington charge up to $60 per visit. Prescriptions vary again place to place, I pay $15 per item on prescription here. It also depends on whether the item is subsidised, my inhaler is only partly subsidised so I have to pay $18.50.

Not sure about what type of insurance you will get. We get 33% back on doctors fees and prescriptions. Don't always use it as we don't go very often.

It's probably worth registering anyway even if you wait for your insurance to come through.

[sizzlingbadger]

Just realised Smiler's has replied at about the same time :-)

[Smiler]

Great minds eh? :nice1:nice1

[Singel]

You don't need a Health Insurance to see a doctor here. All you need is to go to your nearest GP to register and the receptionist will arrange the doctor appointment for you. If the clinic is not so busy, you might have a chance to see the doctor on the spot.

After registering, if you are at work, you just ring the clinic and the receptionist will book the doctor appointment for you.

Our GP charge $40 per visit.

I understand that there are medical insurance that reimburse part of the consultation fee.

[Oregonkiwi]

As the others said, just pick a doctor out of the phone book or one close to work, you can change later if you don't like that one. The cost of doctor visits is much clearer in NZ than in the US. When I took my son to the doctor in NZ (on vacation in March) there was a list of prices on the wall by the front desk. We got an appointment 20 minutes after we phoned, saw the doctor, paid and left. The prescription was free (because he's an infant) and took about 5 minutes to fill at the pharmacy next door. Compared to a month later at home in the US, I asked the receptionist how much the visit would cost and she said, "well, I can give you a price range...". I think you'll be happily surprised how simple it all is in NZ! Get well soon.

[Howie]

Thanks for the help everyone. The Dr's offices are not arranged by location in the phone book and there are so many. I managed to find one near where I live and called them up this morning. I walked over and registered and then waited about an hour to see a Dr.
$60 for the visit and $15 for the prescription.
I still can't get over how nice everyone is. The receptionist at my Dr's office in NJ always acted so cold and angry that people would dare disrupt them by asking questions, or calling them. Even the Dr was nice here. She asked if I was American, and when I said that I was Canadian she said "oh, sorry".

[jubjub]

Agree with the receptionist thing, never met a friendly one in the UK. Our surgery here has a couple and they are both nice.

We were wandering past one afternoon on the dog/baby walk, and my boy had a problem, popped in to make an appt, 15 mins later, was out again having seen a doc on the spot and got a script... cant complain at that..

Hope you are feeling better soon.

[bpk]

Hi guys

I have read all what you said and still confused about some points. Does the health insurance cover all the visit cost, as the case in Germany and many countries or not? Are the children free of charge as here in Germany, also the medicine is free for children here?
How much in average is the monthly cost of health insurance? and is it dependent on the income?