MEDICAL AID GUIDE

What is Medical Aid?

Medical Aid is a form of insurance that will save you and your family's lives. Your Medical Aid scheme covers the medical costs of the insured person if they were to be involved in an accident, fall ill or require emergency medical treatment. Medical Aid is probably the most important insurance you will ever take out.

Selecting your Medical Aid can be a very tricky process. With over 100 medical aid options available to choose from, it is important to access your individual needs before selecting a Medical Aid. Price is usually the first factor South Africans take into account when selecting their Medical Aid, but service levels and the medical aid schemes financial health should also be considered.

Begin your Medical Aid process by making a careful assessment of your current healthcare needs based on age, family composition and health status, and select an option that can appropriately care for this level of need. Obviously comprehensive cover comes at a price, and should you select a more basic option you cannot expect the same level of cover.

Choose a Medical Aid that has the maximum Hospital cover:

The real reason for Medical Aid is to assist its members with significant and unforeseen medical expenditure, the type of expense that nobody plans for. Unfortunately things like motor vehicle accidents and dread disease do exist and the financial impact on a family (should something like this happen) can be truly crippling.

Therefore you should always make sure that your hospital cover is unlimited at a private facility and that it refunds specialists at appropriate rates. Most specialists charge up to 300% of NHRPL and a good Medical Aid plan should cover in-hospital treatment at this rate or as close as possible.

Day to Day and your MSA:

Every family expects to have regular dental and GP visits during the year. Many self-fund their day-to-day routine expenses while others believe that a good medical aid should incorporate day-to-day benefits into the cover they provide. It's important to remember that day-to-day benefits are a rand for rand benefit which means that the portion of your contribution that funds your day-to-day benefits is equal to the value of the benefit itself. You therefore get exactly what you pay for.

With the above in mind you should be able to make a smart and informed choice about your Medical Aid. Medical Aid is essential and should not be viewed as a grudge purchase. Being on the right Medical Aid scheme and right option opens benefits to members, benefits that are not only convenient and useful, but also essential for some. Choose your Medical Aid wisely and you will be rewarded for selecting a Medical Aid scheme that will really care about the well being of yourself, and your family.

ThinkMoney works with a number of Medical Aid partners in South Africa. These Medical Aid providers are house hold names in South Africa, providing comprehensive medical aid, hospital plans and peace of mind for many years.

Applying for a Medical Aid with ThinkMoney is simple, hassle free, costs you nothing and could save you up to 30% on your current cover.