Please, everyone, get health insurance. It has saved us so much and been an amazing contribution to my treatment. I have always had health insurance. I was originally with Southern Cross but now I am with NIB. They have been very punctual with pre approvals and very supportive throughout this process.
I am so blessed to have my health insurance paid for by my place of work (Big hugs and kisses to my EMA family). However, I have just found out my policy only covers 60K a year - more than enough for a normal person, but for someone with cancer this is a great contribution but doesn't cover the whole lot, so my parents will have to cover the rest.
I feel guilty, like I'm a burden on my parents. They love going to Europe every couple of years to explore more together and now they can't. One, because they can't leave me cause I'm so sick and two, their money is being spent on my treatment. I am so blessed to have parents that can help me but I can't help but feel bad. I have always been crap with money, and I wish I had saved more incase I needed it, like now. You just never think you are going to get sick like this at 26 years old.
The public system is also such a huge help. I will be undergoing my Herceptin treatment for a year under the public system. Herceptin costs $4,000-$6,000 per bag and I will be doing 17 bags. This would completely rock our world if we had to pay for this so I am counting my lucky stars that this will be government funded. This drug will save my life.
I cannot urge you enough to get health insurance, it is a small price to pay every month incase you run into something like this. Southern Cross and NIB are both great options. See websites below :)
https://www.nib.co.nz/health-insurance
https://www.southerncross.co.nz/society/buying-health-insurance