Cheap Hospital
Plans in South Africa Are Best!
Everybody would ideally love full
medical aid cover regardless of their age or marital status, but having a comprehensive plan
become an out-of-reach luxury for many South Africans. But now medical aids offer cheap hospital
plans in South Africa too. And insurance companies offer especially cheap hospital plans
in South Africa too.
Our government is supposed to be
rolling out National Health Insurance (NHI) that will supposedly provide good quality healthcare to all,
but they are so busy attending to fraud and crime among their own, who knows if we’ll ever
see cheap hospital plans in South Africa supplied by government materializing? You therefore
need to still take responsibility for your own health for now.
South Africans
MUST have SOME kind of hospital plan
Most people in South Africa realize
that not being on some form of hospital plan is tantamount to suicide. This is because if you are
injured or ill and require hospitalization, landing up in some of the government hospitals there are, is
like signing your own death warrant.
Going without a cheap hospital
plan in South Africa requires one to urgently look at other options and one of these options is a
hospital plan. These cheap hospital plans are a more affordable alternative to medical aid cover and are
a form of risk-based insurance when
they come from an insurance company.
Research is imperative for anything you buy so that you’re not disappointed. You need to know that
cheap hospital plans have their own medications they can cover, and some of these cheap hospital plans
also come with a daily dividend that is paid into the
insured’s account. You need to understand exactly what it all means and what you’ll be
getting.
When it comes to hospital plans, the
only way to be sure that you’re going to get exactly what suits you and your needs is to request a quote
and understand the choice of plans there are.
You need to understand what is available between medical schemes and insurance
companies.
Know the essential difference between the
two
The essential difference between medical aid and cheap hospital plans is that the hospital plan only pays
for your medical care in hospital while the medical aid will pay for
everything.
So if you’re violently ill and have a raging temperature, your hospital plan isn’t going to pay for a trip
to the doctor.
Cheap hospital plans in South Africa – a mix of
good and not-so-good
Hospital stays can be a massive medical expense, but with cheap hospital plans you can be asured of help
with paying your hospital bills. You pay a much lower premium each month than what you’d pay for a medical
aid premium. Also, to have a hospital plan, you don’t have to endure a medical examination first to join
one.
With cheap hospital plans, at least you can be assured of medical treatment in the case of an
emergency. Yes, you will be required to pay for some expenses yourself, so it would be wise to keep some
savings for these expenses.
Medical aids market hospital plans for the young and healthy. The reason for this is that if you have an
illness, the out of hospital expenses can add up, and the amount you spend from your own pocket is more
than the amount you saved in contributions by switching to a hospital plan.
When you do research on
hospital- and medical aid plans, you’ll discover that there are many different options and benefits. The
important difference, as already mentioned, is that the medical aid pays for just about
everything - in and out of hospital. They sometimes have requirements though such as you using certain
hospitals and doctors so as to qualify for full cover, whereas hospital plans only cover your stay in
hospital.
Monthly
premiums differ according to the scope of cover
With both kinds of hospital plans, you
pay a monthly premium, with the cheap hospital plans being far lower than the medical aid’s premium.
While the premium of a hospital plan may seem attractive to cash-strapped South Africans, you can’t let
the low premiums blur your decisions.
The reason for this is simply the
truth – you’re going to discover shortcomings. For people planning on- or who already have small
children, a hospital plan is not likely to offer sufficient coverage.
Nothing is set in stone however, but
you could say that these popular and sought after hospital plans are better suited to fairly healthy
people. They are also better suited to those whose kids are a bit older and who have left all those
sickly ‘toddler issues’ behind.
Having said that, the hospital plans
from registered medical aids have to cover certain medications, and these are about 26prescribed chronic
conditions.
The same
legislation doesn’t apply to insurance company hospital plans
Hospital plans from insurance
companies are looked upon as financial products. Such a product isn’t regulated by the Medical Schemes
Act.
With
health insurance, the providers aren’t subject to the same legislation of medical aids and they don’t
have to take the same requirements into account. You can be refused cover if the insurance company looks
at you as a risk.
Also
take note that these insurance companies don’t have to cover the treatment of these 26 or so prescribed
minimum benefits (PMBs) that the medical aids have to pay by law.
There
is obviously a big difference between these hospital plans from medical aids and the ones from an
insurance company. A medical aid hospital plan can offer unique benefits as part of their hospital plan
packages and worth your consideration.
Some
of these benefits could include things such as free annual flu vaccinations and possibly even benefits
for basic dentistry.
Fancy not even
covering PMBs
Cheap hospital plans in South Africa from an insurance company, on the other hand, doesn’t even
have to include the PMBs that a medical aid hospital plan does.
Probably
the most important reason for choosing medical aid hospital plans over an insurance company’s cheap
hospital plans is this all-important regulation. The medical aid hospital plan is regulated by the
Medical Schemes Act of 1998.
This
simply tells you that your hospital plan has to be in accordance with the rigid regulations stipulated
by the Council for Medical Schemes – the regulatory body of the industry. There
won’t be any fishy dealings with your cheap hospital plans from a medical aid.
