nib launch domestic and overseas cosmetic surgery offer

UPDATE: nib made the decision to close its nib Options business in May 2017. As such, this product is no longer available.

nib today launched its nib Options cosmetic surgery and dental service which offers Australian consumers treatment by highly reputable clinical specialists in accredited facilities.

Details about the service can be found at www.niboptions.com.au, opens in a new tab. The launch of nib Options will be supported by a marketing campaign, fronted by leading GP and television personality Dr Ginni Mansberg.

Mark Fitzgibbon, the Managing Director of nib, said nib Options is a fee-for-service product which will provide safe and reliable choices for consumers wishing to undertake cosmetic and major dental procedures in Australia or overseas. It is not a health insurance offering.

Customers will have a choice during the early assessment stage about where they would like to seek treatment, with nib Options accessing leading Australian plastic surgeons as well as fully qualified and credentialed plastic surgeons and dentists in overseas facilities.

“nib Options is all about helping Australians to choose from a borderless network of surgical excellence as well as providing safety assurance,” said Mr Fitzgibbon. “While receiving cost-effective treatment is also a factor for consumers, we know that the most powerful attraction is providing safety assurances that only high quality hospitals and clinicians will be involved,” he said.

“Such safety assurances cannot be made lightly, so we have devoted a lot of time and effort to ensuring nib Options will successfully deliver what it promises based on our brand reputation and capability.

“We have leveraged our existing capability as well as invested heavily in clinical governance. The hospitals and dental facilities we are dealing with are accredited to the highest international standards and clinicians individually credentialed to ensure the best quality. Our Australian and overseas packages also include an ‘after care’ promise to assure customers that nib Options will be there to help them through a process for any further follow-up treatment and care, for up to 12 months after the surgery, should they need it,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“Over time, I am confident that more and more Australian and overseas clinicians will want to partner with nib Options once they see the benefits it will bring to their practices.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said that under nib Options, all the costs involved in undertaking surgery, both before and in the post-operative phase, as well as the ‘after care’ promise will be bundled.

“nib Options fits very neatly with our commitment to helping people finance their health care. We are helping the customer at every stage starting from the initial consultation through to travel arrangements, accommodation, the actual surgery and afterwards,” he said.

“Some people won’t have an appetite or ability to travel overseas for a procedure while others will take the travel option so they can also recuperate quietly.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said many thousands of Australians have embraced medical travel, especially to world-class facilities in Asia, and it is unrealistic to believe it can or should be stopped.

“For those Australians who do travel overseas for medical treatment, we want to give them peace of mind by making the experience safer and more reliable,” he said.

According to some industry and academic estimates, the global medical travel sector is estimated to be worth US$60 billion and growing at up to 20 percent a year while the Australian market is estimated at A$300 million annually.

For more information visit the nib options website, opens in a new tab.