Compare insurance NZ
HomeDocuments read September 2026, ratings checked August 2026
Life insurers in New Zealand differ in four ways that matter: who they accept and at what age, what the first years of a policy pay, how much cover they offer, and the independent financial strength rating behind them. Underwritten policies ask health questions; guaranteed acceptance policies, such as Momentum Life’s, do not, but they restrict the first one to two years.
Below that, benefits and limits side by side from the insurers’ own policy documents: what each plan pays for surgery, cancer drugs, mental health and a terminal diagnosis, with the document and the date we read it next to every number. No premium figures, and no winner declared.
Momentum Life is also on our panel, through an online-application partnership, but it is not in the matrix above, which compares underwritten policies. Momentum Life’s Quick Life and funeral cover are not underwritten, and their terms and limits, with its financial strength rating, are on its insurer page.
Underwritten or guaranteed acceptance: the choice that comes before the insurer
Guaranteed acceptance life insurance is cover with no health questions at application. It is not a different insurer so much as a different trade: you give up the health assessment, and the policy gives up the first years. The grid below sets Momentum Life’s two guaranteed acceptance products against ordinary underwritten cover. Our guaranteed acceptance guide Momentum Life’s insurer page
| Point of difference | Underwritten, through an adviser | Guaranteed acceptance, Momentum Life |
|---|---|---|
| Health questions | Yes. Your answers, and sometimes medical evidence, decide whether you are accepted at standard rates, loaded, excluded for a condition, or declined. | None at application. Acceptance is guaranteed for those who meet the entry rules (Momentum Life’s site says Quick Life is not available to applicants diagnosed with a terminal illness or in palliative or hospice care). |
| Entry ages | Each insurer sets its own. Fidelity Life’s life cover, for example, takes applicants aged 16 to 75. | Quick Life 18 to 65. Funeral Insurance 40 to 75. Neither takes new applicants over 75. |
| Cover amounts | Set by the insurer and by your underwriting; the matrix above shows published limits. | Quick Life $50,000 to $300,000 to start (3% yearly indexation to a $500,000 cap per life insured). Funeral Insurance $3,000 to $30,000. |
| The first years | Cover applies from the start, subject to the policy’s exclusions and any loading or exclusion the insurer adds after assessing you. | Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide for the first 2 years. Funeral Insurance pays only accidental death for the first 24 months, then refunds premiums for any other death in that window. |
| Premiums | Stepped or level, depending on the insurer and the structure you choose. | Quick Life is stepped to age 75, then fixed. Funeral Insurance is level until the 89th birthday, when payments stop and cover continues for life. |
| Who it tends to suit | A healthy person can usually get more cover for less this way, and an adviser compares insurers for you. | People who would be declined or heavily loaded elsewhere, or who want cover in place in minutes without health questions. |
Sources: the Momentum Life Quick Life and Funeral Insurance policy wordings (read 17 October 2026) and Fidelity Life’s life cover factsheet (November 2025 edition, read 16 September 2026). Both Momentum Life products restrict the early years, and neither takes new applicants over 75.
Financial strength: the grade behind each panel insurer
A financial strength rating is an independent agency’s opinion of whether an insurer can meet its claims. It belongs to the licensed entity, not to a brand, and it is not a prediction that any one claim will be paid. The eight insurers on QuoteHub’s panel are below, each grade linked to the insurer’s own disclosure, checked against the Reserve Bank’s register of licensed insurers on 15 August 2026. Grades from different agencies sit on different scales and are not ranked against each other.
| Licensed insurer | Agency and grade (linked source) | Date and detail |
|---|---|---|
| AIA New Zealand | Fitch Ratings: AAAIA financial strength rating page | Fitch affirmed 30 November 2025, as stated on AIA’s page. |
| Asteron Life | Fitch Ratings: A+Asteron Life financial strength page | Effective date not stated on the page read. |
| Chubb Life NZ | A.M. Best: A (Excellent)Chubb Life financial strength page | Undated page. |
| Fidelity Life | A.M. Best: A- (Excellent)Fidelity Life financial strength page | Affirmed 5 March 2026. |
| Partners Life | A.M. Best: A (Excellent)Partners Life solvency and financial strength page | Effective 5 February 2026, as stated on the page. |
| Southern Cross Health Society | S&P Global Ratings: A+ (Strong)Southern Cross financial strength disclosure | Undated page. |
| nib nz | S&P Global Ratings: Anib financial advice and strength page | Undated page. |
| Momentum Life | A.M. Best: B (Fair), in A.M. Best’s vulnerable rangeMomentum Life financial strength page | Cut from B++ in February 2025; affirmed B (Fair), outlook stable, on 11 February 2026. Solvency 107% at 30 June 2026, a margin of about $0.6 million. |
Seven of the eight sit in an A band on their own agency’s scale. Momentum Life is the eighth, at B (Fair), which A.M. Best places in its “vulnerable” range; Momentum says the rating “is not a recommendation to buy or hold insurance”. The policies it sells are small and fixed in size (Funeral Insurance $3,000 to $30,000, Quick Life $50,000 to $300,000 to start), which caps the size of any one claim, but if you want a large sum insured, or cover that has to last for decades, put the grades side by side before you choose. Agencies re-rate insurers between our checks, so confirm a current grade on the register or the insurer’s page. Our Financial Strength Explorer claims and insurer strength report
Four things a comparison can honestly be built on
Only one of them fits in a table on this page. Here is where the other three live.
What the policy pays
Benefit limits and definitions are published, they are the same for everyone, and they decide what a claim is worth. That is the matrix on this page.
Whether the insurer can pay
Financial strength is an independent agency's view of an insurer's ability to meet claims. It belongs to a named licensed entity, not to a brand.
Open itWhat treatment actually costs
A benefit limit only means something against the price of the treatment it covers. New Zealand has no national price source, so we publish observed prices with the provider named.
Open itWhat it will cost you
Premiums depend on your age, health, occupation and an underwriting decision that has not happened yet. No published figure is your figure, which is why there are none here.
Open itThe same matrix, one product at a time
Each product hub carries its own features grid, its own exclusions block and, where the insurers publish one, the claims record behind it.
- Life insurance
- Health insurance
- Income protection
- Trauma insurance
- Mortgage protection
- Business protection
Common questions
Because a premium is not a published fact about a product; it is the output of underwriting your health, age and occupation. Any figure printed here would be someone else's price. Everything in the matrix above is true before anyone is assessed, which is what makes it comparable.
Start with what the policy pays: benefit limits, definitions, waiting and stand-down periods, and what you keep after a claim. Then check the licensed entity's financial strength. Then, and only then, get priced. Comparing price first sorts on the one number that has not been calculated yet.
No. The matrix above shows why: an insurer with the strongest cancer-drug cover can have no mental health cover at all, and the reverse. The right insurer is the one whose published terms match the risk you are actually insuring.
Underwritten cover asks about your health and decides the terms from your answers; guaranteed acceptance asks no health questions and accepts you if you meet the entry rules, but restricts the early years. Momentum Life’s Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide for the first 2 years, and its Funeral Insurance pays only accidental death for the first 24 months.
A.M. Best cut Momentum Life from B++ to B (Fair) in February 2025 and affirmed B (Fair), outlook stable, on 11 February 2026. B (Fair) sits in A.M. Best’s vulnerable range. The rating is an agency’s opinion of the insurer’s finances, not a statement that a claim will or will not be paid, and Momentum’s own page publishes the grade and its solvency position. Source: Momentum Life: financial strength.
QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner, and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum Life policy through the buttons on this page. Our how we are paid and disclosure pages set out every arrangement. The benefits matrix above is built from the insurers’ published documents and does not change with who pays us.
That we could not find the fact stated in the documents listed under that table, on the date they were read. It is a statement about those documents, not a claim that the insurer has no such benefit. Where an insurer does publish it, the value and the link are there.
Go deeper on any one insurer
A side-by-side table is a starting point, not a decision. The guides below work through the same insurers one cover at a time, setting out how policy wording, underwriting approach and claims behaviour actually differ once you get past the headline comparison. They are general information rather than personalised financial advice.
Life insurance companies in NZ, compared
The life market compared on wording, underwriting and claims rather than price alone.
Health insurance providers compared
What each health insurer covers, excludes and asks you to wait for.
Income protection insurers compared
Waiting periods, offsets and benefit terms across the main income protection products.
How to compare insurance quotes step by step
A method for putting two quotes on the same footing before you choose.
Partners Life reviewed in detail
A single-insurer read across life, health and income protection.
What private surgery costs in New Zealand
The procedure prices that make health cover worth comparing in the first place.
Important
Policy documents change, and an insurer can revise a benefit limit at any renewal. Every value on this page carries the document it came from and the date that document was read; check the current wording before you rely on any of it. This page is general information, not personalised financial advice. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner, and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum Life policy through the buttons on this page; see how we are paid. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.
Want help choosing the right insurer?
Our advisers work across the insurers on our panel. We’ll match you on the terms that matter for your situation, not on which insurer pays more. Our full panel and how we’re paid are set out on our disclosure page.
Start your free checkA comparison that leads with price compares the wrong thing. Premiums move with your age, your health and an underwriting decision that has not happened yet, so the only figures worth putting side by side are the ones an insurer publishes and commits to: what a benefit pays, what it caps, and where it stops.
Health cover: benefits and limits, side by side
Five New Zealand health insurers, nine benefits, and the limits each one publishes. This is where health plans actually differ: surgical and non-surgical maximums, what happens with a non-Pharmac cancer drug, and whether mental health is in the policy at all.
| Benefit | What it decides | Southern Cross Wellbeing One | AIA New Zealand AIA Private Health | nib Premium Hospital | Partners Life Private Medical Cover | UniMed Hospital Select |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgical | The core of every plan: the operation, the surgeon and the hospital stay. | Unlimited on the surgical procedures benefit; prostheses maximums and an excess apply [1] | Unlimited surgery benefits, including surgeon, anaesthetist, radiologist and hospital fees [2] | Up to $300,000 for each insured person every policy year on the Surgical Benefit [3] | Up to $600,000 on the Surgical Benefit, including pre- and post-surgery care [4] | No maximum per admission for a qualifying non-acute surgical procedure [5] |
| Hospital treatment without surgery | Admissions for treatment that is not an operation. | Covered through the named non-surgical benefits, including IV infusions at $750 each claims year [1] | Up to $500,000 per policy year for medical hospitalisation [2] | Up to $200,000 for each insured person every policy year on the Non-Surgical Benefit [3] | Up to $500,000 on the Non-Surgical Benefit [4] | Up to $65,000 per policy year for non-acute medical hospitalisation, excluding psychiatric and geriatric [5] |
| Chemotherapy and cancer treatment | The benefit most people buy health cover for. | $60,000 each claims year on the base chemotherapy benefit, with optional upgrades to $100,000 or $300,000; radiotherapy is unlimited [1] | $500,000 per policy year of cancer cover benefits, including treatments, consultations, tests and diagnostic imaging [2] | Chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy in a private hospital are paid from the remaining Non-Surgical Benefit limit [3] | The Serious Illness Benefit covers drug or radiotherapy treatment not covered under the surgical or hospital benefits [4] | $65,000 per policy year for chemotherapy and $65,000 for radiotherapy [5] |
| Non-Pharmac cancer drugs | The single biggest difference between plans, and the reason many are bought. | $10,000 each claims year within the base chemotherapy maximum; the Cancer Cover Plus upgrades remove that sub-limit [1] | Pharmac and non-Pharmac Medsafe-indicated cancer chemotherapy drugs sit inside the $500,000 cancer cover benefit [2] | $20,000 for each insured person every policy year, with an optional Non-PHARMAC Plus benefit paying 100% of eligible costs up to a separate limit and no excess [3] | Prescribed non-Pharmac subsidised drugs up to $25,000 within the surgical and non-surgical limits, plus a Non-subsidised Drugs Option [4] | $10,000 per policy year for Medsafe-approved non-Pharmac chemotherapy drugs inside the cancer limit, plus $2,000 for in-patient non-Pharmac prescription drugs [5] |
| Diagnostics | Scans and tests, often the first thing you actually claim for. | Diagnostic imaging $60,000, diagnostic tests $3,000 and cardiac tests $5,000 each claims year, within six months of related eligible treatment [1] | Up to $200,000 per policy year for major diagnostic imaging and tests, including angiogram, colonoscopy, CT and MRI [2] | CT, MRI and PET scans at 80% of eligible costs up to $5,000 for each insured person every policy year; other diagnostic tests at 80%, subject to the Diagnostics Schedule [3] | A Major Diagnostic Benefit covers listed procedures used to reach a diagnosis, including colonoscopy, CT scans and endoscopy [4] | CT, MRI and PET scans within a combined $300,000 per policy year, with a compulsory $150 excess for each test or image [5] |
| Specialist consultations | Getting in front of a specialist without waiting on the public list. | $5,000 each claims year; the six-month rule does not apply to oncologist and radiation oncologist consultations [1] | Pre- and post-surgery consultations sit inside the unlimited surgery benefit; standalone specialist consultations are on the Private Health Plus upgrade [2] | 80% of eligible costs, with an unlimited number of consultations up to the overall benefit limit [3] | Covered as part of pre- and post-surgery care within the Surgical and Non-Surgical Benefits [4] | $300,000 per policy year for consultations following a referral [5] |
| Psychiatric | Where health cover is thinnest, and worth checking before you buy. | Psychiatrist consultations $750 each claims year with no six-month rule, and psychiatric hospitalisation $3,500 each claims year [1] | Mental health support of $2,500 per policy year [2] | Not covered: psychiatric, psychological, behavioural and developmental conditions are general exclusions [3] | Psychiatrist or psychologist consultations and counselling up to $2,500, within 12 months before or after surgery, serious illness or a non-surgical admission [4] | Psychiatric or geriatric hospitalisation $5,000 per policy year; the general terms exclude psychiatric, psychological and neurodevelopmental disorders [5] |
| Physiotherapy | Rehabilitation after the operation, which is where recovery is decided. | Post-operative physiotherapy $60 each visit, up to $300 each claims year [1] | Pre- and post-surgery physiotherapy sits inside the unlimited surgery benefit [2] | Up to $750 for each insured person every policy year, for up to six months after discharge from a private hospital [3] | Included in pre- and post-surgery care under the Surgical and Non-Surgical Benefits [4] | Post-operative therapy including physiotherapy, to a combined $1,500 per surgical event or treatment cycle [5] |
| Overseas treatment | Whether the plan follows you out of the country. | Overseas treatment allowance of $30,000 each claims year [1] | Voluntary treatment in Australia at 100% of the reasonable charges payable in New Zealand, elsewhere at 85%, and at 100% where the treatment cannot be provided in New Zealand [2] | Cover is for recognised providers in New Zealand, except where a benefit specifically provides cover overseas [3] | An Overseas Waiting List Benefit, an Overseas Treatment Benefit where the treatment cannot be provided here, and an optional Overseas Coverage Option [4] | Overseas treatment after five years' continuous cover on the base plan, paying the reasonable charges for the identical procedure in New Zealand; a $20,000 lifetime grant applies to an overseas transplant [5] |
| Obstetrics | Pregnancy is excluded on most plans; the allowances differ sharply. | Not covered on Wellbeing One; Wellbeing Two carries an obstetrics allowance of $750 each claims year after one year of continuous cover [6] | Obstetric care allowance of $2,000 per policy year [2] | Loyalty obstetrics benefit of up to $1,500 for each pregnancy, after 12 months of continuous cover [3] | Obstetrician costs relating to complications of pregnancy, until 90 days after the end of the pregnancy, within a $10,000 benefit [4] | $1,000 per policy year for treatment during pregnancy and after delivery until discharge [5] |
- [1] Southern Cross Health Society, Wellbeing One benefit summary, effective 1 April 2026, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [2] AIA New Zealand, AIA Health Insurance brochure (Private Health and Cancer Care), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [3] nib New Zealand, Premium Hospital policy document, from 24 November 2025, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [4] Partners Life, Private Medical Cover overview, Partners Life Journey Plan, PLJP_OVERVIEW_PRIVATE MEDICAL COVER_V01_1025, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [5] UniMed, Hospital Select Plus Modules Health Plan, effective 1 August 2026, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [6] Southern Cross Health Society, Wellbeing One and Wellbeing Two policy document, read 8 Sep 2026.
Life cover: benefits and limits, side by side
Twelve non-price features across the life panel. Terminal illness, bereavement advances and special-events increases are the parts of a life policy that vary, and every value here was read from the insurer's own document.
| Benefit | What it decides | AIA New Zealand AIA Living Life Cover | Chubb Life Assurance Extra Life Cover | Fidelity Life Life cover | Partners Life Life Cover | Asteron Life Life Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry age | The ages at which the insurer will accept a new application. | Not published | Not published | 16 to 75, with no expiry age while premiums are paid [1] | Not stated; cover can be taken from $1,000 of sum insured upwards [2] | Not published |
| Maximum sum insured | The largest amount of cover the published documents commit to. | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Terminal illness advance | Pays the cover early once life expectancy falls below a stated period. | Up to 100% of the Life Cover Benefit where the life assured is expected to live no more than 12 months [3] | Early payment of the Life Cover sum insured on a terminal illness likely to cause death within 12 months [4] | The full amount insured, on a prognosis of less than 12 months [1] | 100% of the sum insured on a prognosis of 12 months [2] | The Life Cover payment, on a prognosis of less than 12 months [5] |
| Advance on a specified terminal condition | A part payment on a named diagnosis, before the 12-month test is met. | Specified Terminal Conditions Benefit: the lower of 30% of the Life Cover Benefit or $250,000 [3] | Not published | 30% of the amount insured, up to $250,000, in some cases [1] | Terminal Illness Advance Benefit: 30% of the sum insured to a maximum of $600,000, on listed conditions or a 24-month prognosis [2] | The lesser of $250,000 or 30% of the sum insured, on listed conditions or a life expectancy of 24 months or less [5] |
| Bereavement or funeral advance | Money released on notification of death, before probate. | Bereavement Support Benefit: $15,000 where the life assured is the sole policy owner, $25,000 where there is a surviving policy owner [3] | Early payment of up to $25,000 towards funeral expenses [4] | An early payment of up to $25,000 towards funeral costs [1] | The lesser of $25,000 or the sum insured, immediately on notification of death [2] | A funeral advancement of $15,000 or $25,000 from the Life Cover [5] |
| Financial and legal advice benefit | Reimburses professional advice on what to do with the payment. | Up to $2,500 including GST towards financial planning or legal advice, from a provider the insurer accepts [3] | Reimburses up to $2,500 of the cost of receiving professional advice [4] | Not published | Up to $3,000, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Up to $2,500 for financial planning and legal advice, plus up to $2,500 of grief counselling [5] |
| Repatriation | Brings the person home if they die overseas. | Reimburses the policy owner for the cost of returning the life assured [3] | Reimburses costs up to $20,000 to return the remains to New Zealand [4] | Not published | Up to 25% of the sum insured to a maximum of $20,000, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Reimburses up to $15,000 or $25,000 of the direct costs [5] |
| Special-events increase, no underwriting | Raises the cover after a mortgage, a baby or a pay rise without new medical evidence. | The lower of 50% of the original Life Cover Benefit or $250,000 per event; not available to a life assured over 55, and the request must be made within 12 months of the event [3] | Up to $250,000 on a qualifying life event, without further assessment of health [4] | Increases available any time before age 55 without medical evidence; amount not stated [1] | The lesser of $300,000 per increase, the actual mortgage increase, or five times the annual salary or net business profit increase [2] | Available on a special event without medical underwriting; amount not stated [5] |
| Increases with no event required | A guaranteed way to top up cover without waiting for a life event. | Optional Life Future Insurability Benefit: total increases limited to the lower of twice the original Life Cover Benefit or $1,000,000, offered before each third anniversary [3] | Not published | The amount insured can be set to increase each year against inflation [1] | Future Insurability Option: up to 10% of the original sum insured each policy anniversary, for up to 10 years [2] | An inflation adjustment is offered each year at the consumer price index, with no further underwriting [5] |
| Premium suspension | Puts the policy on hold through redundancy, parental leave or study. | Cover can be suspended for up to 12 months with no premium payable, and reinstated at the end without further medical evidence [3] | Not published | Payment breaks and temporary suspension in certain circumstances, including redundancy, going overseas and study [1] | Not published | Not published |
| Waiver of premium | Keeps the cover in force while you are too unwell to earn. | Not published | Premium Cover is a separate cover in the Assurance Extra suite, and is mandatory alongside Income Cover [6] | Not published | Not published | 'We pay your premiums' benefit, where illness or injury stops you working more than 10 hours a week in your usual job [5] |
| Children's cover attached to the policy | What the policy does for a dependent child, at no extra application. | Parents Grieving Benefit: $2,000 where the child is under 10, $15,000 from age 10, and it does not reduce the sum assured [3] | Not published on the Life Cover page; a complimentary children's benefit of up to $50,000 sits under Trauma Cover [7] | Children aged 3 months to 20 years are covered under Trauma cover for $50,000 or 20% of the cover amount, whichever is lower [8] | Dependent Child Funeral Support Benefit: $2,000 before age 10, $15,000 from 10 to 21, in addition to the sum insured [2] | Free Kids Cover of $50,000 of trauma cover for each child or grandchild, which can be increased to $200,000 [5] |
- [1] Fidelity Life, Life cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [2] Partners Life, Life Cover overview, Partners Life Journey Plan, PLJP_OVERVIEW_LIFE COVER_V03_1025, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [3] AIA New Zealand, AIA Living Life Personal Cover Policy Wording, 10 October 2023 (1101 AL-LIFE version 5), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [4] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra, Life Cover and Life Income Cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [5] Asteron Life, Life Cover brochure, RP321 (09/24), read 8 Sep 2026.
- [6] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra Income Cover brochure, cig0007 v5, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [7] Chubb Life New Zealand, Assurance Extra Trauma Cover brochure, cig0019 v6, read 8 Sep 2026.
- [8] Fidelity Life, Trauma cover, read 8 Sep 2026.
How we compared
We compared 5 insurers. Every value in the table above was transcribed from one of these documents on the date shown beside it: Southern Cross's Wellbeing One document, AIA New Zealand's AIA Private Health document, nib's Premium Hospital document, Partners Life's Private Medical Cover document, UniMed's Hospital Select document. Nothing was taken from an adviser summary, a comparison site or a previous version of this page.
Rows were chosen for the features that decide what a claim pays and that an insurer publishes: entry ages, benefit limits, definitions, waiting and stand-down periods, and the rights you keep after a claim. A cell reads "Not published" where we could not find the fact stated in the documents listed under the table on the date they were read. It is a statement about those documents, not a claim that the insurer has no such benefit.
Price is not compared here, and not because it does not matter. Premiums depend on your age, your health, your occupation and the underwriting decision, so a published figure would be someone else's price rather than yours. Everything on this page is true before anyone is underwritten. How QuoteHub compares insurers.
No premium figures appear on this page. Every value is a benefit limit or a policy term transcribed from the insurer document linked beside it, on the date shown. A cell reading "Not published" means we could not find the fact stated in those documents on that date, not that the insurer has no such benefit.
Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Technology.