Visits To The Doctor and Costs?

[Debd]

Hello everybody. For those who are living in NZ, have you found it expensive to visit your doctor? (Especially those who have children too!).
Could you give us an idea what to expect to pay when we get there?
Thankyou in advance, DebD

[MotherBear]

There's a brief and very simplistic overview of health service charges here.

[Debd]

Thankyou again mother Bear, that was a good help! ?[smiley=icon_biggrin.gif] ?DebD

Some posts on here have been scrambled durng the forum changeover and are out of chronological order.

[driver]

would anyone know if these costs will apply to someone who is living and working in NZ and paying tax! But not a resident, i.e doesn't have permanent resident. [smiley=icon_confused.gif]

It says at the bottom of that list, only applies if you are resident.

You get the same benefits if you are on a work permit too. It's only visitors and WHV holders that have to pay for everything (except emergency treatment, subject to your home country!)

[driver]

phew! 8-)

[SteveyC]

Doh!!!

What do we have to pay for then that you don't or is it just more [smiley=icon_eek.gif] how much!!??? on a WHV/Visitor visa.

This'll be me then. ?

Agreement reached over cheaper GP visits
UPDATED 11.50am Tuesday June 20, 2006

An agreement has been reached to enable lower doctors' fees for 45 to 64-year-olds. GPs had been concerned by conditions placed on them by district Health Boards over their ability to set fees. Health Minister Pete Hodgson said today that issue had been resolved.

Mr Hodgson said the argument between Primary Health Organisations, DHBs and doctors' groups over the issue had taken "quite a while" but in the end the ability of DHBs to review doctors' fees remained.

He said: 'We have importantly now got an ability to ensure that fee increases from doctors are reasonable -- this is not fee setting, it is not fee capping, it is just ensuring that we have an ability to ensure that if anyone were ever to be recalcitrant in their fee setting that there's going to be able to be a response to that.'

The agreement means subsidies of $110 million to cut the cost of a doctor's visit for 45 to 64-year-olds -- about 700,000 people -- by $27 from July, can be put into place. The latest round is part of the Government's $2.2 billion primary health care changes and follows a previous roll-out for those under 25 and over 65 who were enrolled with primary health organisations.

In a statement, New Zealand Medical Association chairman Ross Boswell said he was pleased there was an agreement. 'Patients will benefit by receiving the subsidy, and general practices will be able to set their own fees and thus ensure their viability,' Dr Boswell said.

- NZPA

Logged on this morning to post questions on this very subject and here we are with a thread all about it for me to trample on... [smiley=icon_lol.gif]

On WHV can anyone tell me what Dr's costs are if for example you get an infection and need antibiotics, you know general dr stuff.

Also, I am on permanent meds and dont wanna /or can't bring a years supply with me. Does anyone know how I would go about getting them whislt over there? Do I just take a letter and prescription from my GP here? And how much can expect to pay? Since i moved to Kent they will only give me a month at a time but everywhere else i lived they gave me 3 months at a time, therefore considerably cheaper for me. Will it be similr in NZ?

I know these are quite specific questions so any ideas would be great. I will also be trying NZIS but my GP had no idea.

Many thanks in anticipation... 8-)

I?d say both a letter and a prescription from your doc would come in handy, if you can get them. You can?t have enough ammunition with you where your health is concerned. I should have done this with my previous doc before we came here, but didn?t as she charged the earth for every little thing (and I hated seeing her as she was a bully).

When I came here and asked for a continuation of the meds I was on in Syria, my doc disputed the fact that this medication was suitable for my condition, as it wasn?t recognised as such in Oman. I was asked to get written confirmation from Syria that I had been on the meds and how long I?d been put on them for. Of course, when I emailed Syria, I had no response and, in the end, I had to meet with a consultant here in order to get it approved and, fortunately he?d been trained in the UK and knew all about it. Could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I?d fronted up to The Dragon and got my letter.

It?s always handy for any new doc to be able to read up on you medical history. You don?t have to spend so long going back over old ground then and your new doc will have all the details straight from the horses mouth.

I think you may have to pay anything up to $55 per visit to see the doc and up to $20 per item prescription charge, as mentioned in the link I posted at the start of this thread, BUT it does mention at the bottom of the box that this applies to NZ residents only.