Gap Cover for GEMS
December 19, 2021
GEMS is a massive restricted medical aid in South Africa, allowing only government employees to join. Often Government Employee Medical Schemes (GEMS) medical scheme members ask us if GEMS offers gap cover. (This is insurance to cover the shortfall between what your medical aid might pay and what hospitals and specialists actually charge.)
We have to tell them: No, GEMS itself does not offer gap cover.
Why does GEMS not offer gap cover for medical aid?
GEMS is a registered medical scheme. Therefore it is a statutory body that the government has ultimate control over. As such they can only offer what is described in the Medical Schemes Act. So a medical scheme is totally different from the private insurance firms that offer gap cover. There are in fact many such schemes, such as Zestlife, Turnberry and Sirago.
Which firms offer gap insurance for GEMS members?
The good news is that as a GEMS member (or a member of any other registred medical aid in South Africa) qualify for gap cover from any insurance company offering gap cover. These include companies such as Zestlife, Sanlam, Xelus and Turnberry.
Do these insurance firms differ from each other?
Honestly, these firms do not differ much. However, we have scouted around and finally partnered with the firm featured on this page. We suggest you start the process of signing up by completing and submitting the form on this page. A consultant will then contact you to sign you up for gap cover.
Is gap insurance for GEMS expensive?
The good news is that this type of product is actually cheap. It amounts to about 5% to 10% of the value of your monthly medical aid premiums. So if your medical scheme premium is R5000 a month, the gap premium will be around R500. The great thing is that every member of your family who is on the scheme gets cover from a single policy. There are also upgrades for cancer cover.
Get your quote now and sign up for cover.
Use the convenient form on this page to contact us.
All info was correct at time of publishing