{"id":424714,"date":"2026-05-13T00:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424714\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:17:08","slug":"aia-nz-pays-790m-in-total-claims-in-2025-as-heart-disease-continues-to-impact-thousands-of-kiwi-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424714\/","title":{"rendered":"AIA NZ Pays $790M In Total Claims In 2025 As Heart Disease Continues To Impact Thousands Of Kiwi Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 9:17 am
Press Release: AIA NZ<\/a><\/p>\n

Leading life and health insurer AIA NZ today released its
\nlatest Claims
\nCompass<\/a>, reporting $790 million in total claims paid for
\nthe year ended 31 December 2025, supporting more than
\n789,000 New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

Of this total, more than $93.5
\nmillion was paid to support customers with heart-related
\nclaims, reflecting both how common heart disease is in New
\nZealand and the increasing complexity and cost of
\ntreatment.<\/p>\n

According to the New Zealand Heart
\nFoundation, heart disease claims the life of someone in New
\nZealand every 90 minutes \u2013 almost 7,000 people each year
\n\u2013 making it the country\u2019s single biggest killer.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Maddie
\nSherlock, AIA NZ Chief Customer Officer.
\nPhoto\/Supplied<\/p>\n

AIA NZ Chief
\nCustomer Officer Maddie Sherlock says the figures highlight
\nthe very real impact heart disease is having on individuals,
\nfamilies and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart disease
\noften strikes people in the middle of their working lives,
\nand its impact can be sudden and lifechanging. These
\nclaims represent real people who need certainty, care and
\nsupport at a time when it matters
\nmost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spotlight on heart
\nclaims<\/p>\n

Heartrelated claims were most prevalent
\namong men aged 40 to 69, who accounted for the largest share
\nof heart claims in 2025. Heart attacks and heart disease
\nmade up the majority of claims, followed by diagnostic
\nprocedures and valverelated conditions.<\/p>\n

Advertisement – scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

While women
\ngenerally present as healthier overall, men were
\nsignificantly more impacted by heart disease across most age
\ngroups.<\/p>\n

Heart Foundation Medical Director, Dr Gerry
\nDevlin says that while there have been significant advances
\nin the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, it remains
\nthe leading cause of death in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe
\nprevalence of heart disease reinforces the importance of
\nawareness, prevention, early detection and access to timely
\ntreatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart disease occurs in both men and
\nwomen, tending to affect men at a younger age,\u201d says Dr
\nDevlin, \u201cbut understanding personal risk factors and
\nseeking regular check-ups can make a real
\ndifference.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 195,000 New Zealanders are
\ncurrently living with heart disease[2]<\/a>,
\nwhich has been identified as one of the five major
\nnoncommunicable diseases responsible for over 90% of
\ndeaths in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Rising health claims and
\ngrowing complexity of care<\/p>\n

Of the $790 million paid
\nin total claims in 2025, $177.31 million related
\nspecifically to health insurance claims. Alongside heart
\nclaims, AIA NZ continues to see growth in highvalue
\nmedical claims, including chemotherapy and complex spinal
\nprocedures.<\/p>\n

Several factors are contributing to rising
\nclaims costs across the industry,
\nincluding:<\/p>\n

Pressure on the public health system,
\nleading more customers to seek private treatment
\nsoonerImproved diagnostic capability and treatment
\noptionsMedical inflation, with the cost of scans,
\nprocedures and hospital stays increasing faster than general
\ninflation.<\/p>\n

In response to rising claim volumes
\nand medical inflation across the industry, Maddie says AIA
\nNZ is adapting its approach to help keep protection
\naccessible and sustainable for customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew
\nZealanders are benefiting from advances in medical treatment
\nand earlier diagnosis, but these innovations often come at a
\nhigher cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why our focus is
\non continuing to evolve our products and services, including
\nmore targeted and flexible cover options, and greater
\ninvestment in prevention, early intervention and
\nrehabilitation, so customers can access timely,
\nhighquality care while we work to manage affordability
\nover the long term,\u201d says
\nMaddie.<\/p>\n

Supporting customers across
\nlife\u2019s challenges<\/p>\n

In 2025, AIA NZ provided claims
\nsupport across a wide range of health, life and income
\nprotection needs. This included:<\/p>\n

Accepting 91% of
\nall claims received$257.73m paid in life insurance
\nclaims$142.45m paid in trauma
\nclaims$108.69m paid in income protection
\nclaims$21.35m paid in total permanent disablement
\nclaims.<\/p>\n

Claim payments were highest among
\ncustomers aged 50 to 59, reflecting a life stage where
\nserious illness, injury and income disruption are more
\nlikely to intersect.<\/p>\n

Together, these insights
\nillustrate the importance of understanding your health
\nearlier and taking steps to reduce risk over
\ntime.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt AIA NZ, our Purpose is to help people live
\nHealthier, Longer, Better Lives. While we support customers
\nwhen they need to make a claim, we\u2019re equally focused on
\nhelping people better understand their health so they can
\ntake action earlier \u2013 whether that\u2019s through regular
\nhealth checks, speaking with their GP or tools like AIA
\nVitality that support prevention and early
\nintervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing your health can make a
\nmeaningful difference, both to your quality of life and to
\nreducing the likelihood and severity of illness later on,\u201d
\nsays Maddie.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> New Zealand
\nHealth Survey.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>
\nIbid.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a9 Scoop Media<\/a>
\n
\n<\/p>\n

Using Scoop for work?<\/p>\n

Scoop is free for personal use, but you”ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.<\/p>\n

Join Pro Individual<\/a>
\nFind out more<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more from AIA NZ<\/a> on InfoPages.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 9:17 amPress Release: AIA NZ Leading life and health insurer AIA NZ today released…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[153326,138,134,92568,17053,111,24636,139,69,147673,11112],"class_list":["post-424714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-aia-nz","tag-business","tag-health","tag-informative","tag-insurance","tag-new-zealand","tag-newsworthy","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-primary-health","tag-scoop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}