Health Insurance Excess Optimiser

This calculator helps you decide whether a higher health insurance excess will actually save you money in New Zealand, by weighing the lower premium against the extra excess you would pay when you claim. Insurers offer a choice of excess, the amount you pay toward a claim before they cover the rest, and a higher excess buys a lower premium because you are shouldering more of the cost yourself. The trade-off hinges entirely on how often you claim. The premium saving from a higher excess is certain, banked every year whether you claim or not, while the larger excess only bites on the occasions you actually make a claim. So for someone who rarely claims, a high excess can be a clear win, while a frequent claimer may be better with a low excess. You enter the premium and excess for a low-excess option and a high-excess option, plus the number of claims you expect in a typical year, and the calculator works out the expected total cost of each, premium plus the likely excess cost, and tells you which is cheaper. Use it to choose the excess that minimises your expected yearly cost, and remember the right answer changes if your health or claim frequency changes. This is a guide only, not financial advice.

Expected cost is the premium plus the excess times how often you claim. Rare claimers favour a high excess; frequent claimers a low one. A guide only, not advice.