Health Insurance - Life Direct

Website Security & Privacy

Website security

We are committed to keeping your personal information as safe and secure as possible. Our site is hosted securely with a NZ based provider - SiteHost, and we have rigid internal guidelines to protect your information.

Our online application is secured by 128 bit SSL encryption to ensure the safety of your personal information and all payment details are encrypted in our system, which is protected with Firewalls.

We regularly review our security processes and recommend that you do the same. By keeping your passwords and usernames secure (i.e. not sharing them with or disclosing them to another party) and regularly updating your operating system and anti-virus software you can protect yourself.

Despite all of our measures, it is impossible to guarantee that our site is 100% secure and therefore we need to emphasise we do not accept any liability for any misappropriation of your personal information from this website.

Please contact us if you have any concerns regarding our site and security:

ATT James Punnett
Life Direct
PO Box 31519
Lower Hutt
New Zealand

What kind of personal info will I need to provide?

The application collects information such as contact details, health details, and insurance history, which is used by your insurer to assess your application. All information gathered is sent confidentially and securely to your chosen insurer.

Is my information shared with anyone else?

Your information is sent only to your chosen insurer and is not shared with any other companies.

What is my information used for?

Your information is sent to your chosen insurer so that they can assess your application. And we are required to keep client records (e.g. names, dates of birth, etc) for legal reasons and to provide you with ongoing service like annual insurance reviews. We also have a quarterly electronic newsletter and may contact you from time to time with promotions we think you may be interested in or to introduce you to new services we are launching. If you have any questions about the way information is stored or used please don′t hesitate to contact us.

How can I access my personal information?

In accordance with the Privacy Act 1993, you have full access to all information we have stored about you. Please contact us to arrange this.

As is common practice, when you visit our site a “cookie” is created. This is a file on your hard drive which means that our website will operate more quickly when you return. Our cookies don′t record any personal information - they simply note the areas of the site you visit.


	What is health insurance? In emergency situations (like a car crash for example) the New Zealand public health system usually does a great job. However for “non-urgent” situations, which can even include major health issues like cancer, treatment in the public system can involve long and difficult waiting lists. Health insurance is a way to avoid waiting lists, and access top medical care when and where you need it. How does it work? With health insurance you can access treatment in a private hospital, and your insurer will pay (they can either reimburse you or pay the health provider directly). This means that you won′t need to join a public hospital waiting list, and it also usually means that you have a wider range of treatment options, hospitals, and medical specialists available to you. What is covered? A good health plan will cover 100% of your major medical expenses, minus any “excess” (the part of the hospital bill that you pay). This includes things like surgery, hospital charges, etc. It′s also common for plans to cover specialist and test costs both before and after your treatment in hospital. In addition, plans will often pay for a range of “major diagnostic” costs (like MRI scans, CT scans, angiograms, etc), even if you don′t need treatment in hospital. What extra cover is available? Usually you can choose an extra “Specialists and Tests ” add-on. This means that specialist and test costs are covered, even if you don′t need to go to hospital (for example a referral by your GP to have a test done or have a consultation with a specialist). This can be a good add-on to have because multiple specialist visits or tests can be quite expensive. Some plans also offer add-on cover for day-to-day medical costs, like GP visits and Dental charges. Usually our recommendation is to avoid this type of add-on, as they tend to be poor value for money. Our advice is to focus on what′s really important - getting a plan that provides great cover for large costs (like hospital treatment) and then get the “Specialists and Tests ” add-on if you′d like extra cover. Who can apply? It can vary by insurer, but usually any New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident can apply. Note: if you are in New Zealand on a work visa and are currently in the process of applying for residency you may also be eligible. Please contact us for further details on 0800 800 400. For more on health insurance, please view our health insurance FAQs.