Get Joel Back On His Feet

Thanks very much Chris.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the message. You are definitely not the first person to be asking questions about the health insurance because we, as well, thought that Joel would be covered by either his insurance and/or ACC (in NZ) and/or the NHS in the UK. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

I think it would be helpful if I set out some further information:

1) Joel is a NZ citizen; not a UK citizen. He is living in the UK (and has been since July 2015). He is living in the UK on a five year ancestry visa. As a result, Joel does not have recourse to public funds in the UK (including unemployment, sickness and disability benefits). It explicitly states this on his visa.

2) Joel has medical insurance in NZ. However, this does not help him because the insurance policy states that he will only be covered for any medical events that occurred in NZ.

3) Joel has UK travel insurance; not NZ travel insurance. This means that any time Joel is travelling outside of the UK (i.e. for weekend trips to Europe) he is covered for any medical emergency. Because that policy is a UK policy, he will be covered for medical costs including travel back to the UK. However, this policy does not help him because the injuries were sustained in the UK so is therefore excluded.

4) Joel does not have access to ACC because Joel has been out of NZ for more than 6 months. This has been confirmed to the family by ACC.

5) Joel (and probably most kiwis) assumed that if there was any medical treatment required whilst he was in the UK that he would be covered by the NHS. Whilst this is largely true (for any operations and hospital visits etc) this is not the case for rehabilitation costs. This is because rehabilitation does not necessarily require hospital care so falls under the banner of 'Social Services' in most boroughs in London. As noted earlier, Joel cannot claim social services in the UK because he has no recourse to public funds.

Had Joel taken out NZ travel insurance for the entire time he was living in the UK, then he may possibly have cover under that policy (I have not confirmed this). However I am not aware, personally, of any kiwis that have this type of insurance cover whilst living in the UK. I certainly didn't, and I lived in the UK for nearly five years. Had I known what I know now, I would consider the insurance position differently!

I hope this helps answer your questions.

Many thanks,

Kent

Hi Marcus,

Joel had full NZ medical insurance and UK travel insurance but did not have separate NZ travel insurance or UK medical insurance. Given the mugging happened in the UK, his UK travel insurance will not respond and neither will his NZ medical insurance. Given he has been in NZ for nearly two years, he is not covered by ACC either for rehabilitation when he returns to NZ.

We are looking into the reciprocal health agreement between the UK and NZ but this does not look promising either. We have spoken to the MInistry of Foreign Affairs and they have not confirmed that this will help Joel's cause because we have been informed by hospital staff in the UK that rehabilitation in the UK is covered by social services which Joel, as a kiwi, cannot access.

The police are currently investigating and are in the process of taking DNA samples from Joel's clothing as well as investigating CCTV footage from the area. At present, they have not been able to identify the attacker but if they do, then they will be charging him with Robbery (at the very least) causing grievous bodily harm. We would expect the police to seek reparation on behalf of Joel but reparation payments would depend on the solvency of the attacker and we do not have much hope that the attacker will be in a position to make full amends for the damage he has caused.

I hope this answers your question.

Thanks,

Kent