KEY POINTS:
Pat Inskip and Tika Rayner have two things in common.
Both are grandmothers disabled by worn-out hips. Both are having private surgery because the public system could not guarantee them attention soon enough.
But West Aucklander Mrs Rayner will be able to rely on her family's $70-a-month hospital and specialist insurance to pay for the operation, to be done next month.
Mrs Inskip, 76, and her husband, Bill, will pay the $15,000-$18,000 for her surgery, booked for next Tuesday.
Mrs Inskip's arthritic pain began in 2005. Her GP referred her to Dunedin Hospital, which put her on a waiting list, her husband said.
"The surgeon said that if he had his way she would be operated on straight away. It was that bad."
But the hospital later removed her from that list and put her on active review - the list for people not disabled enough to qualify for state-funded surgery.
"I was a bit shaken," said Mrs Inskip, who with her husband shifted from Britain four years ago to be near their son and his family.
She walks with difficulty using two walking sticks, has trouble controlling the pain from her right hip and her life has been restricted.
"Once you sit down it's really difficult to get going again. Social life is hopeless. Holidays are out of the question - or even visiting people.
"Everything is too much of an effort really."
She arranged private surgery in Christchurch - Dunedin's private surgeons were too busy and indicated she would wait up to six months - but had to cancel when diagnosed with breast cancer, needing surgery and radiation therapy.
Now that is done, she is preparing for her hip operation. But she is not bitter about the public health system, praising its emergency and acute care.
In Auckland, Mrs Rayner, a 55-year-old part-time nurse, is kept awake at night by pain and can walk only short distances.
She has had insurance for 15 years but entered the public system to see which could treat her soonest. Just before Christmas, she was told she would probably be seen within three months, which she said was not quick enough, so she switched to a private consultation. At that visit last month she was booked for surgery because of the severity of her condition.
"I am extremely glad I have got insurance."
Insurer and hospital owner Southern Cross said a growing proportion of patients at its hospitals were paying their own way - possibly from savings, extending their home loan or through reverse equity mortgages.
The insurance industry has reported small increases in the number of lives insured - stable at around a third of the population - but the number with hospital and specialist cover has risen significantly at the expense of comprehensive cover.
This is thought to be related to Southern Cross ending age-based premium cross-subsidies and the Government's massive expansion of primary healthcare subsidies.
