Publicly funded health and disability services
Many health and disability services in Aotearoa New Zealand are funded for most people who live here.
Pātiki and Waharua Kōpito patterns
In Aotearoa New Zealand, public funding pays for most of our health and disability services. This means eligible people can get
- free hospital treatment
- cheap or free prescriptions
- community support services for disabled people.
Guide to eligibility
To find out if you can get free health and disability services, read our guide to eligibility.
If you aren't eligible
If you aren’t eligible for publicly funded healthcare, you can still get treatment and support, but you will have to pay for that. This means you should get health insurance.
If you are a visitor from Australia and the United Kingdom, you can get urgent and necessary treatment publicly funded through reciprocal health agreements. You should also get health insurance, because the agreement doesn’t cover GP visits or services which aren’t urgent
High-cost treatment
Some services have special conditions, even if you can get publicly funded healthcare. To find out more about these, see what is covered by the high-cost treatment pool.