New Zealand Health Care System

New Zealand & UK Reciprocal Health Care Agreement

Who is eligible?

Citizens of the UK visiting New Zealand on a temporary basis (less than 2 years) UK citizens who are not residents of the UK are not eligible.

What is covered?

• Medically necessary treatment of an illness or injury which occurs while you are in New Zealand and requires treatment before you return home.
• Pre-existing medical conditions that a medical specialist has agreed, needs treatment to stop the condition from getting seriously worse.
• Maternity services required during birth, labour and the immediate postnatal period including emergency service.

What is not covered?

Medical conditions that you have specifically traveled to New Zealand to receive treatment for.

Routine antenatal services.

If your treatment qualifies under the agreement, you will receive medical treatment on the same basis as New Zealanders would receive it, so it may not be exactly the same as the treatment you would get in the UK. In practice this means that you pay:

• The cost of visits to a GP
• For GP-referred laboratory and diagnostic tests
• For private specialists
• Full costs for prescription items prescribed by a GP when not associated with an acute event.