Once you know how healthcare schemes of South Africa work, you’ll realise that top up cover for medical aid is essential.
This must-have cover ensures that members don’t go into serious debt because of their unexpected medical bills.
However, you have to be a member of a registered medical aid scheme and only then can you apply for medical gap cover.
Can you Afford not to Have top up Cover for Medical aid?
If you are unsure about what limitations your medical plan has, check with your medical aid scheme. Always do plenty of research before investing in a medical aid plan and understand all the exclusions and limitations in full.
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ost of South Africa’s medical schemes don’t offer unlimited in-hospital benefits. This can be a huge problem if you have to stay in the hospital for a long time. This is why top up cover for medical aid is vital.
How many of us can afford the shortfalls between what medical aid will pay and what the service providers charge?
Start adding up hospital consumables, theatre fees and ward fees, and you’ll understand how your medical bills can put you into serious debt.
70% of specialists are in private practice, and they can charge what they want. They make a lot of money, and the fees are mixed and varied. Some fees are 300% more than the amount your medical aid will cover.
This is why top up cover is so critically important. It takes care of the medical aid’s shortfall so that you don’t have to.
Top up cover for Medical aid Gives you Cover for Different risks
Taking out a medical aid top-up product is important. This supplemental in-hospital coverage is essential, and the best part is that the premiums are cheap. Some are in the region of R300 month, others R400, R500 or more.
This top-up covers you for a few different types of risks, depending on the product you take out. In-hospital expenses are expensive – it’s the reason we belong medical aid schemes. But most medical aid plans don’t have an unlimited in-hospital benefit.
This means that there is a cap on the amount of cover you enjoy while in a hospital.
An example of a Medical shortfall
If, for instance, you have a medical aid plan that has an R500 000 cap on your in-hospital benefit, but you’re in an accident where you land up in intensive care for months, this R500 000 in-hospital benefit is going to be terribly insufficient.
You’re going to have to pay the balance because your medical aid won’t.
Of course, if you have a medical aid plan with an unlimited hospital benefit, you don’t have to worry. Indeed, if you have a capped in-hospital benefit, then you need to take out top-up cover.
Being Part of a Good Medical Scheme Isn’t Enough
One stay in a hospital is enough to convince you how important medical aid top up cover is. Being part of a good medical doesn’t mean you’re immune from having to pay huge medical bills.
Ask the many medical aid members caught out this way. Your medical aid hardly ever picks up the entire bill, and charges of more than 300% of medical aid rates are the norm.
Get medical top up cover – that’s if you don’t want to reel at massive medical bills coming your way.
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