Medical Assurance is one of those areas of health care that may make you flinch and shy away because, after all, you have a medical aid, don’t you? And you get some of the same coverage as well: protection against high medical costs, hospitalisation expenses, day care procedures, ambulance charges, etc. But medical assurance policies over and above your company medical aid, are actually viable health tools, very useful and advisedly essential.
Key differences between medical aid and medical assurance
- The focus of a medical aid scheme is to provide members with cover for expenses associated with necessary medical treatment. Often members are obliged to use healthcare specialists who belong to a chosen network and there are stringent conditions that dictate which treatments are covered.
- Medical assurance or health insurance, however, is designed to ensure that when you need funds for medical purposes, you receive a fixed, lump sum. This amount won’t differ, regardless of the type of treatment that’s required, or which healthcare providers you use.
- Medical assurance policies generally have lower premiums than medical aid, but provide less comprehensive cover. As premiums for medical aids increase, the alternative health insurance products that medical assurance offers are worth consideration.
- If you’re a member of a medical aid scheme and you’re hospitalised, the cost of the treatment will typically be paid directly to the hospital. With health insurance, depending on your policy choices, you may have to settle the hospital bill yourself, using the lump sum you’re paid out – which may or may not cover all your medical costs.
- Although a medical aid plan provides more comprehensive cover, it doesn’t generally include personal accident disability or cover for loss of limbs. Health insurance does. It may also include death and funeral cover, which medical aid schemes do not offer.
- Medical aid contributions are tax deductible whereas health insurance premiums are not.
Advantages of medical assurance
Having health insurance has many benefits. It protects you and your family from financial losses in the same way that home or car insurance does. Even if you are in good health, you never know when you might have an accident or get sick. A trip to the hospital can be much more costly than you might expect.
- You can, for instance, arrange coverage against critical illnesses such as kidney failure, bone marrow transplant, stroke, and loss of limbs, among others for which, upon diagnosis, you are entitled to receive a lump sum amount. This amount may be used to meet your illness-related treatment costs, daily expenses, or any other financial obligations.
- It keeps you prepared for a medical contingency at all times. In the face of a medical emergency, proper coverage will allow you to take your mind off the stress related to healthcare costs and focus on the treatment instead.
- Remember, a medical emergency can occur anytime, irrespective of your present good health or disciplined lifestyle. Therefore, it’s important to have forethought and protect your family and yourself from any unexpected medical situation.
- Your policy may include annual health check-ups so you remain aware of your health condition; regular health check-ups are critical for identifying problems at the early stages.
- Your policy may also include a Cashless benefit, which means that should you be admitted to a network hospital, your insurer will settle the bill directly with the hospital.
- A Hospitalisation Daily Allowance is also an option, providing a lump sum amount every day in case of hospitalisation – an amount that can alternatively be used to compensate any loss of income during a period in hospital.
- Maternity benefits and alternative treatments can also be covered.
- Your medical assurance policy should be purchased as a long-term plan. So it’s really wise to begin your medical assurance policy as young as possible; in this way your premium will be much lower compared to that which you may have to pay when older. Always compare policies before deciding which route you should take to suit your finances and circumstances.
Check your policies, check your life
VeriFi is an online tool that provides you with an immediate and up-to-date overview of all your life insurance and investment policies by sourcing information from all the major life insurance companies – and presenting the information in a comprehensive report.
With VeriFi you are able, for no charge, to access information on all your life and investment policies at a glance. You are able to check the types of policies you have, the names of the insurance companies providing the cover, the nature and extent of the insurance cover provided – and other vitally important information such as the details on your policies being correct.
To find out more, please visit: www.verifi.co.za