Study of the latest figures show that every year the, number of New Zealanders covered by health insurance keeps dropping. By 2010, the number was at 10,000. But on the same hand, the cost and the premium also the number of claims has been on a rise.

Said Roger Styles, executive director of the Health Funds Association (HFANZ) that a drop of 1 percent has been seen in the number of lives, that have been covered since December, 2008. This is not a large reduction since at that time the economy was down and the health inflation was on rise.

As for the claims, the number rose from $60 million to $825 million from a year ago and premium income rose $87million to $962 million. One of the reasons for this trend is the tightening of ACC funding. They are now covering only selective surgeries so that the importance of private health cover can be maintained.

Roger added that this is the time when New Zealand needs to look at its health policy. This is going to be helpful for the ageing population.