Travel Insurance for Australia: Trans-Tasman Cover Guide

According to Services Australia, New Zealand visitors are covered for:

• medically necessary care as a public patient, including public hospital inpatient and outpatient services; and
• some Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescription medicines at the general rate.

It does not include visits to medical practitioners outside hospital, and it does not apply if you travel to Australia for medical treatment. You don't enrol in Medicare or get a Medicare card: at a public hospital or pharmacy you ask to be treated under the agreement and, as a New Zealand citizen, show your current New Zealand passport. Cover starts the day you arrive and ends the day you leave (Services Australia: Reciprocal Health Care Agreements – visiting from New Zealand).

Because the agreement is limited to public hospital care and some PBS medicines, a travel policy is what you would rely on for things such as:

• doctor visits outside a hospital, and treatment as a private patient;
• getting you home to New Zealand if you are too unwell to fly as planned;
• cancellation, delays and missed connections;
• lost, stolen or damaged luggage;
• rental vehicle excess, if the policy includes it; and
• personal liability.

ACC does not cover treatment costs overseas, though it may help with an accidental injury once you are back in New Zealand (ACC: If you're a New Zealander injured overseas).

• That the policy's region of cover includes Australia.
• Pre-existing medical conditions and how they are assessed.
• Activities such as diving, surfing or snow sports.
• Rental car excess cover and the driving conditions.

See our longer Australia travel insurance guide.