Smart Medical Aid Choices includes choosing some form of health coverage, in reality, every South African knows. Sometimes, unfortunately having learned the hard way, after being hit with a slew of hefty medical bills after an unexpected illness or injury.
Knowing something and acting on it are often two different things though. All too often South Africans are leaving themselves without coverage because they simply believe that medical aid scheme plans cost too much money for something they may hardly ever use over the course of a year. This is especially true of younger people who are relatively healthy almost all of the time, give or take the odd cold or bout of the flu once in a while.
But medical disaster can strike anyone, even the young and fit. And the cost of paying for a hospital stay and all that might involve is guaranteed to be far higher than a monthly medical aid premium.
Smart Medical Aid Choices
One of the biggest keys to getting the medical aid coverage you need and is right for you is to shop smart and make smart choices. It is almost impossible not to notice how many different medical aid options are available right now, it might seem a real chore having to wade through them all. But it will be an hour - or two - well spent. Better still call one of our Consultants who know all the Medical Aids and would know in an instant which one would suit your circumstances.Here are some basic tips for smarter shopping when choosing a medical aid.
Smart Medical Aid Choices
Get Serious About the Real State of Your Healthcare Needs
Coverage for emergency medicine is a must for anyone of course, we can’t stress that enough. And there are a number of low level medical aid plans that provide that, just that and rather adequately as well. And if you are pretty healthy otherwise why even consider paying for anything else?
If you are say, 20, you may not have to. Except for the fact that even a 20 year old should get annual check ups and if you could get a simple shot to help prevent that miserable week in bed with the flu wouldn’t that be rather good? And although many important health screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies aren’t recommended until people are over 40 there are a number of chronic, even life threatening diseases, that do affect younger people and early detection can be key if symptoms start showing up.
Rather than choosing a hospital only plan the smarter choice is often to pay a little more - usually not much - for the next ‘level’ up, gaining coverage for basic outpatient services that can keep you healthy when you are young and set you up for a healthier older age.
Smart Medical Aid Choices
Do the Maths
We have mentioned big medical bills, but do you actually know how much we are talking when we say big? Let’s say you fell off your bike and broke your leg. Depending on the severity of that injury - a broken bone can require surgery to fix properly - it could cost you anywhere between R10,000 and R20,000 or more, and that’s without the after care or radiology fees factored in!
No one can afford a medical crisis. People literally lose everything if their medical bills start piling up - and that happens more often than you think. The smart Medical Aid choice really is to bite the bullet and choose a medical plan that offers decent coverage and, if it’s going to put a dent in your budget look for ways to save elsewhere, you’ll often find there are more than you think, like cutting that R25 a day Starbucks Cafe Latte habit perhaps?
Talk to one of our Specialist Medical Aid Consultants today, the service is free and may save not only your health but your budget too.
