Don't get too excited about New Zealand...
We have a compulsory accident insurance scheme here in NZ called the ACC (Accident Compensation Commission) into which my wife was paying her weekly premiums for medical and income insurance in the event of accidental injury.
She fell at work and broke both her arms -- that was covered.
But, while being operated on, she suffered a collapsed lung and during the period shortly after the operation she had a lack of oxygen to the brain (another accident) that caused permanent neurological damage but they are refusing to cover that. This has left us with quite large medical costs and she is unable to return to work so now I have to work twice as long/hard to pay the bills.
All the doctors we've consulted agree that her brain injury was as a result of a medical accident (failure to monitor oxygen levels during her post-operative care) but we find ourselves stuck between cracks in the system.
One of the trade-offs for a compulsory universal accident coverage system (ACC) is that NZers have lost the right to sue the negligent party in the case of an accident -- the idea being that the insurance would cover all the medical costs and loss of income. However, the NZ government has recently said that ACC costs are too high so they've instructed the insurers to try and reduce claims -- so they're denying a huge number of claims in the knowledge that many people don't have the money to lodge an appeal against that decision.
Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that NZ is a land of milk and honey.
At one time we had free public health and free education -- not any more. Our public hospitals are often forced to have patients lined up in the corridors on gurneys for lack of beds and when my wife had her accident -- it took over 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive -- despite the fact that the ambulance center is just 5 minutes from the school where she works.
There are some lovely places in NZ and generally speaking the people are great -- but it's just like most other countries once you cut through the tourist-brochure rubbish. We have our fair share of problems.
If you're looking to move somewhere, Australia might be better. Their average income and standard of living is significantly higher than NZ, they have better weather and the politicians are no worse than here
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