Women’s Health Week: Why acting early on health cover could save years of pain

Every year during Women’s Health Week, we’re reminded how often women delay getting help for their health. It’s easy to do; between work, kids, and life in general, health concerns are often pushed to the bottom of the list. But as financial advisers, there’s a particular pattern we see far too often, and it’s one we need to talk about.

A client comes in; sometimes a parent, sometimes a woman herself and they’re worried. There have been years of heavy, painful periods. Now a doctor suspects it could be endometriosis, and they’re facing a long public hospital waitlist for surgery or treatment. They want to know if private health insurance can speed things up.

We wish the answer was always yes. But the reality is by the time symptoms are being investigated, it may already be too late to rely on private health insurance cover.

When a condition like endometriosis is suspected, even without a formal diagnosis, it’s often classed by health insurers as a pre-existing condition, or a deferred period applied. The truth is, we simply can’t guarantee that taking out cover at that point will help and that’s incredibly tough to say to someone who’s in pain and looking for answers.

Meanwhile, in the public system, access to treatment especially surgery, specifically here in Nelson region can take years, depending on where you live. That’s years of unmanaged symptoms, disrupted schooling or work, and emotional stress, especially if fertility is a concern.

That’s why our message during Women’s Health Week is a simple but urgent one: don’t wait until something’s wrong to get health insurance cover.

If you’re a parent and your daughter is having painful or irregular periods, or if you’re a woman putting off dealing with symptoms that are affecting your quality of life, please don’t assume it’ll be easier to sort it out later. Once you’re facing a potential diagnosis, the doors you think you can open may already be closing.

Private health insurance isn’t always the right solution for everyone. But if you’re even considering it, it’s far better to put a policy in place early, before health concerns appear, so that waiting periods are served, and exclusions don’t apply when it matters most.

We know it’s not always easy to plan for the unknown. But this is one area where being proactive can truly change outcomes. It can mean access to treatment months, or even years, sooner. It can mean fewer disruptions, less pain, and more control over your health journey.

So if you’ve been putting off the conversation, now’s the time. This Women’s Health Week, let’s shift the focus from reactive to proactive, because no woman should be left waiting in pain when the right support might have been possible, if only we’d acted earlier.