Cut Risks to Your Health and Wealth- Get Gap Cover Today. Is there ever a good time to be hospitalized for illness or injury? Do we need to even ask that question? Of course not. However, if you are all paid up with a good medical aid at least you won’t have to worry about all the medical expenses you are racking up while you recover, right?
Unfortunately, as far too many South Africans discover every year that is not always the case. Having a medical aid plan in place is certainly a huge advantage over facing a hospital stay – especially an unexpected one – as a ‘self – pay’ patient, but the fact is that all too often even a top tier medical aid plan won’t cover it all.
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Understanding Medical ‘Gaps’
No matter what you are hospitalized for there will be a number of physicians – and other medical service providers – involved in your care. For example, let’s say you fell of your bike, and from the look – and feel – of your leg the chances are pretty good that the tumble has left it broken.
Once you have been scooped up out of the road and transported to the hospital, it’s likely you’ll be seen by an emergency department doctor, and then by an orthopedic doctor. She’ll order x-rays and other imaging to determine the severity of your injury. If the break is particularly bad, chances are she’ll be handing off your care to an orthopedic surgeon. And no matter what the eventual outcome, they will all be sending you a separate bill, on those bills will all be completely separate from the bills from the hospital itself.
This is where the problems can start. Each of these providers, can, under law, charge whatever rate they see fit. Your medical aid plan, on the other hand, is rather strict about how much they are willing to pay for any service they cover.
These set figures are known as ‘base medical aid rates’, and the days the prices charged by medical service providers – and for procedures themselves – can be up to five times higher. The end result is often that even though a patient had a medical aid plan in place when they were admitted to the hospital they will still get home to find that medical bills – bills they are responsible for – begin piling up on the doormat within days.
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Avoiding a Financial Health Disaster
So, to avoid being run into an unexpected pile of potentially crippling debt – debt that will quite possibly do serious damage to your financial health – what is it that you are supposed to do? After all, if even a great medical aid plan leaves you exposed to potential financial ruin is all you are left with the hope that you’ll never have to go to a hospital ever again?
The good news is that you don’t have to leave it all to chance and medical gap cover insurance policy is all you’ll need to protect your financial health if your physical health falters.
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These policies do exactly what their name suggests. They cover the monetary gap between what your medical aid plan is willing to pay and what a medical provider charges. Yes, purchasing one will involve an extra monthly expense, but it’s a modest one and could save you thousands – and a lot of heartache – in the long run.
Talk to one of Our Professional Consultants today to get expert advice and ensure your future.