Pediatricians are specifically educated to provide the best possible care for newborns, toddlers, children, and pre-teens.  Given their specialized nature, pediatric services often come with considerable costs.

So, to help you budget for your child’s next visit to a pediatrician, we’ve prepared a guide detailing the cost of common services.  As an added bonus, we’ve also included various resources pertaining to pediatrics, healthcare, and finances.

The Cost of Pediatric Services

Pediatricians under New Zealand’s public healthcare program usually offer their services without any fees whatsoever.  This rule holds true for patients ranging from newborns all the way to 14 year-olds.

However, pediatricians in the private sector often set their own fees.  This means that clients who prefer private services will often have to pay out-of-pocket if they do not have an active health insurance policy.

General Consultations

General consultations serve as a means for pediatricians to ascertain the current physical health of a patient.  Depending on a child’s health an initial consultation can include a basic check-up or various exams and tests.

These extra services can include blood exams, x-rays, lab work, or even patient samples.  Standard consultations typically start at $150, but this cost can increase if a patient requires further examinations or multiple visits to a clinic.

From what we can gather, the highest fees for complex consultations can reach as high as $400 or more.  Naturally, these costs are only associated with private practices as public pediatric consultations are usually free.

Medical Treatments

Children can fall victim to a number of illnesses or diseases that can require serious medical treatment.  This creates an extremely noticeable gap in the general cost of pediatric treatments and procedures.  

Non-surgical treatments will usually entail multiple visits to a pediatric clinic as well as multiple prescription medications.  As you can imagine, this drives up the cost of medical treatments significantly.

Chronic child health conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes, can often lead to annual expenses reaching as high as $10,000.  These costs, and the wait times for public services, are often the reason why many Kiwis choose to have private healthcare policies.

Surgeries/Medical Procedures

One of the most common occurrences among children is the presence of serious heart defects and complications.  These medical issues require constant care and multiple consultations to handle.

In certain cases, surgery is an immediate requirement due to the severity of specific conditions.  For heart surgeries alone, the cost of a pediatric surgeon can be between $13,000 and $25,000 depending on the specific procedures required.

Fortunately, both standard and emergency pediatric services are covered for patients between 0 and 14 years old.  The only drawback to public healthcare is the long waitlists associated with certain services.

As is the case with dental care and dental services in general, many folks choose to have a private insurance policy to reduce wait times and expedite medical treatments for their children.

With basic pediatric offerings covered, you should be better able to prepare a budget for private pediatric clinics.  We sincerely hope this guide and the resources in it will be of some use to you as you seek out a pediatrician.