nib Ultimate Life Insurance review: An overview for Kiwis

nib NZ: A brief company overview

nib New Zealand is part of nib Group, one of Australasia’s largest and fastest-growing providers of health, travel, and life insurance. Originally established in 1952 as a hospital fund for steelworkers in New South Wales, the company has since expanded significantly, entering the New Zealand market in 2012 through the acquisition of Tower Medical Insurance Limited and then OnePath’s medical portfolio in 2015. 

Today, nib supports over 1.6 million residents, students, and workers across Australia and New Zealand with a range of accessible, affordable insurance options. Its New Zealand arm continues to grow, most recently with the acquisition of Kiwi Insurance Limited. 

Financially, nib NZ remains strong, with a premium revenue of $218 million for the first half of the 2025 financial year and an A (Strong) financial strength rating from S&P Global Ratings. 

Policywise works with the full suite of nib Ultimate insurance products, including medical, trauma, income protection, mortgage protection, and total and permanent disability cover. In this review, we’ll look at their Ultimate Life Insurance plan in detail.

What is life insurance?

Life insurance protects your loved ones financially should the worst happen. When you take out a policy, you agree to pay regular premiums to an insurance provider. In exchange, the insurer promises to pay a predetermined lump sum if you pass away or are diagnosed with a terminal illness as defined by your policy. 

Financial support and flexible usage: Your family can use the life insurance payout where they need it most. This might include covering funeral costs, settling outstanding debts, continuing home loan or rent payments, paying household bills, buying essentials like food, or supporting children through university. The money can also be invested to provide longer-term financial stability.

Early payout for terminal illness: Some policies include a provision for early payment if the policyholder is diagnosed with a terminal illness or given a life expectancy of less than 12 months. This early lump sum can be used by the individual and their family to spend meaningful time together, manage care needs, or simply reduce financial pressure.

nib life insurance: Features and benefits

Available to Kiwis aged 16 to 70 at entry, nib Ultimate Life Insurance provides lifelong, worldwide cover, ensuring you're protected whether you're living in New Zealand or overseas. You can choose a sum insured to suit your goals, budget, and your family's financial needs. 

This product is available as a standalone plan, or with critical illness or total permanent disability cover as accelerated benefits.

You can get premium discounts of 10-15% when you combine Ultimate Life Insurance with other eligible nib policies, offering a more affordable way to secure comprehensive protection.

Contact Policywise to learn more about nib products and current promotions, and get personalised quote comparisons.

Life and terminal illness benefits

• Life Cover Benefit: Provides the full sum insured if you pass away, offering great financial security for your family. Your loved ones can use it to cover essential short-term and long-term needs, including mortgage repayments, ongoing living expenses, and children's education.
• Bereavement Assistance Benefit: Releases a portion of your sum assured (up to $25,000) immediately upon death notification, ensuring your loved ones have funds for funeral arrangements and other urgent costs while waiting for claims processing.
• Repatriation Assistance: Reimburses the costs of returning your remains to New Zealand, your country of permanent residence, or your country of birth if you pass away overseas; pays the lesser of 25% of the sum insured or $20,000, to be deducted from your amount insured.
• Terminal Illness Benefit: Pays the full sum insured when you are diagnosed with a terminal illness expected to result in death within 12 months. This early payment eases financial pressure by covering medical expenses, home care needs, or your family’s living costs. 
• Terminal Condition Benefit: Offers an early partial payment (the lesser of 30% of your life cover or $250,000) when you're diagnosed with a terminal condition likely to lead to death within 24 months. 

Benefits paid in addition to the amount insured

• Return to Home Benefit: Reimburses the cost (up to $10,000) of flights back to New Zealand or Australia for you and your support person if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness or condition while overseas.

• Parents Grieving Benefit: If your child passes away, you’ll receive $2,000 if your child is under 10 years old (including an unborn child after 24 weeks gestation) and $15,000 if your child is aged 10-20 years (inclusive). This benefit is available after 12 months of continuous cover, provided you are the child’s parent or guardian.

• Financial and Legal Advice Benefit: Reimburses up to $2,500 for professional financial or legal advice related to your life cover payout. This benefit helps you or your beneficiaries navigate complex financial and legal matters and plan how to best use or invest the payout. 
• Counselling Benefit: Reimburses up to $2,500 of counselling costs for you or your family members following your death, terminal illness, or terminal condition diagnosis. 

Change-friendly features  

• Special Life Events Increase Benefit: Allows you to increase your amount insured without medical assessment. This benefit applies to a range of life events, including marriage, divorce, pregnancy at 28 weeks gestation, childbirth, home purchase, increased income, and 5 years of continuous Ultimate Life Insurance cover.
• Special Life Events Conversion Benefit: Enables you to add accelerated Ultimate Trauma Cover or Ultimate Total and Permanent Disability Cover without a medical assessment following significant life events. This one-time benefit allows you to expand your protection beyond life insurance to include cover for serious illnesses or permanent disability.
• Suspension of Cover Benefit: Allows you to put your life cover on hold for a specific time frame during periods of financial hardship, redundancy or unemployment, being on leave without pay, overseas travel, tertiary study, and other significant life changes. No premiums are payable and no claims can be filed during the suspension period.

Please note: Terms and conditions, as well as exclusions, apply to all nib products. It's important to review your policy carefully to understand the specific terms of cover, benefits, and any limitations. This ensures that you have a clear understanding of the protection provided by each product. If you have any questions or would like some help finding the right policy, book a callback with a Policywise adviser; it's fast and free.

nib offers more ways to strengthen your cover

nib provides a range of insurance products to complement your life cover and provide a robust safety net for you, your family, or your business. 

• nib health insurance: nib's Ultimate Health, Ultimate Health Max, and Easy Health plans provide comprehensive cover for private hospital treatments, surgeries, and cancer care. It also offers options to add/increase cover for non-Pharmac drugs and include GP visits, dental cover, and other everyday health costs.  
• nib Ultimate Trauma Insurance: Pays a lump sum upon diagnosis of a covered serious medical condition, such as cancer, heart attack, stroke, organ transplant, paralysis, and more. This flexible payout can be used for medical expenses, rehabilitation, debt payments, and living costs. You can buy it as a standalone cover or an accelerated benefit to be deducted from your life cover. 
• nib Ultimate Income Protection Insurance: Provides a monthly benefit if an illness or injury prevents you from working. By replacing a portion of your income, it ensures you can continue to pay your rent or mortgage, bills, and other living expenses. 
• Ultimate Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Insurance: Offers a lump sum if you become totally and permanently disabled due to illness or injury, and either cannot return to work, are unable to perform activities of daily living, or suffer an irreversible impairment specified in the policy. You can get TPD cover as a standalone plan or accelerated against your life cover.
• Ultimate Mortgage Protection Insurance: Assists with your home loan repayments or replaces a portion of your lost income if you're unable to work due to an illness or injury-related disability. 
• Company health insurance: Supports your team’s wellbeing by providing generous cover for private surgical and non-surgical treatments and cancer care.

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Do you need nib life insurance in New Zealand?

nib Ultimate Life Insurance offers peace of mind by ensuring your loved ones are financially supported if you become terminally ill or pass away. Below are key reasons why life insurance matters for New Zealanders, along with how nib's other insurance products can enhance your financial security.

Safeguard your family's long-term financial stability

nib Ultimate Life Insurance provides a tax-free lump sum to help pay off debts and maintain your family’s living standards, ensuring your loved ones are cared for. You have the option to combine it with Ultimate Trauma or Ultimate TPD so you are also covered for critical illnesses and injuries or permanent disability.  

Replace your income and cover major life milestones

The loss of your income due to death or terminal illness puts your family’s future at risk. Your life insurance payout can help you continue paying off the mortgage, covering childcare, or supporting education. Combining it with Ultimate Income Protection or Mortgage Protection Insurance ensures you can continue to fund these important commitments even if you're unable to work due to illness or injury.

Prepare for unexpected health challenges

nib's Ultimate Life Insurance includes terminal illness and condition benefits which pay a portion or the full sum insured if you're expected to pass away within 12-24 months. These benefits help cover medical, living, and end-of-life care costs.

You can also add Ultimate Trauma Insurance to get cover for critical medical conditions. You have the option to complement these covers with nib‘s Ultimate Health Insurance to pay towards private medical expenses, ensuring faster care and less stress during medical crises.

Ease the burden of funeral costs

The average funeral cost in New Zealand is around $10,000. The bereavement assistance benefit, released immediately upon the insured’s death, can help with these costs, easing financial pressure during an already difficult time.

Policywise: Your trusted adviser for nib Ultimate Insurance products

Policywise is a 100% free service which tells you which health, life, and disability insurance provider best fits your needs. We offer fast, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand comparisons of all leading providers, and a simple summary clearly recommending which insurer is best for your situation.

Not all insurance policies are the same. Policywise can help you sort out the duds, avoid the lemons, understand the fine print and exclusions, and get the right insurance for you and your family.

We make the important decision of where to buy your insurance super easy. We’ll answer your questions, provide experienced advice and quotes, and manage all the back and forth throughout the application process. Taking out your cover through us means you'll have our lifetime support and claims advocacy, and we'll help you negotiate a positive outcome at claim time. We can also take care of lodging any claims on your behalf and back you up if the going gets tough.