Choosing the Best Health Plan

You’re kind of restricted when it comes to choosing medical cover for yourself. Medical aids are exorbitantly expensive and experts tell us your premium shouldn’t exceed 10% of the salary you earn. Choosing the best health plan from a short-term insurer is an excellent alternative.

What you earn will play a major role in choosing a medical aid or health plan. If in any kind of doubt about how to choose health cover for yourself, a medical broker can offer sound advice. This is important as choosing the wrong one can be costly.

It is always a good idea to view your medical aid or health plans side by side before choosing. There are comparison sites that allow you to do this. Decide which kind of plan is best for you to choose and eliminate plans that are too expensive or that exclude things you believe are important.

We look at one or two other important factors for choosing the best medical aid or health plan.

◾Network doctors?

There are some health care plans and medical aid options that require you to use a doctor from their network.

Are you prepared to do that by choosing the best health plan along these lines, particularly if you already have a doctor who you trust and who you’ve been using for decades? You’ll have to check if your doctor is included in the plans you’re interested in.

There’s nothing wrong with making use of a network doctor, but it may be someone you feel uncomfortable with.

◾Emergencies

Emergencies can happen at any time. It can be traumatizing when a loved one is dying and you’re not sure if your plan offers emergency care.

You’ll need to find out what the processes are and which hospitals are covered in your plan. Importantly, you need to also be clear about what your policy regards as an emergency before choosing a plan.

◾Waiting periods and exclusions

Apart from finding out about what waiting periods there are and how they might impact the treatments you are receiving, you need to also think about exclusions. You also want to know if the plan covers dental and eye care or any other special services that you’re going to need.

It will be terrible to discover too late that the main reason you signed up for medical aid – a particular illness - isn’t covered. You’ll also need to find out the amount that your monthly premium will be and what co-payments will need to be paid before treatment will begin.

◾Claims and how they’re paid or denied

When you’re looking to choose between medical aid or a health plan, you may be so concerned about your health side of things that you forget that you need to check out other things such as how claims are handled and why and what to do if claims are denied.

Medical cover, whatever you choose it to be, can take a huge chunk out of your salary each month, so you need to make sure that it’s money well spent.

If you really can’t decide what the best medical route for you is, speak to an independent broker who isn’t paid to promote one form of medical cover over the next. They can advise- and inform you of the best medical plan for your life and health as it currently stands.

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