Questions to Ask When Reviewing Medical Cover

What’s the danger of not reviewing one’s medical scheme cover?

Here’s an example: hospitalisation and specialist treatment account for the biggest part of medical costs, according to the Council for Medical Schemes. Specialists and hospitals negotiate rates on an individual basis with different schemes. This means a specialist can charge double or more of the scheme rate, creating a possible coverage shortfall of multiple folds. Too often people assume they’re covered and then have a problem down-the-line, when they’re faced with big shortfalls or no cover at all. It’s important to take a 12 month view alongside an adviser who has insight into the fine print.

Why do you need to look at more than one provider to cover your healthcare needs?

The demarcation regulations governing medical gap cover, hospital cash plans and primary healthcare came into effect in 2017, preventing medical schemes from selling these products and vice versa. Medical schemes are regulated by the Council of Medical Schemes, while these other products are governed by the Long-term and Short term Insurance Acts. Each of the products that you might need to cover all your healthcare needs thus have their own rules, benefits and regulations and they address different needs.

What are the “must-have” health products?

The importance of products will depend on your healthcare needs and your ability to afford them. A comprehensive option is most desirable but depending on your or your families’ unique needs, extensive formularies and prosthesis benefits, dentistry, optometry or specialised cosmetic interventions can be further down on your healthcare menu.

But not everyone can afford a medical scheme option or your healthcare needs might not require all of these benefits. The different options for someone with a limited budget or limited healthcare needs are:

• Primary healthcare insurance: It allows you access to medical practitioners and preventative care with immediate treatment that limits the risk of hospitalisation and chronic diseases.
• Gap cover aims to provide a ‘top up’ to cover the difference between what service providers charge and what the medical schemes cover when you are admitted to hospital. It is estimated that less than 10% of medical scheme members have gap cover, the absence of which could be a drain on finances, upsetting a carefully calculated financial plan.

What am I paying for that I don’t need?

Some people put the whole family on the most expensive option as a comfort blanket for the “what ifs”. This means they could be paying for rich benefits, which they don’t need or have a foreseeable risk for. Again, this is why an annual review is important. It’s better to keep family members with higher healthcare needs on a separate plan so the whole family doesn’t end up paying more for benefits not needed by everybody. However, confirm that your gap cover provider does allow you to take out one gap cover policy to cover family members on different medical schemes.