The reality of private health care costs
December 2, 2024
The reality is that there are very few South Africans who are financially able to personally foot the bill for their private health costs.
In fact, most of the population has to rely on State hospitals and out-patient clinics but these often experience staff shortages, lack of adequate medication and out-of-date equipment.
Obviously, the attraction of the level of care in private hospitals is what everyone would choose, but the cost of private healthcare is astronomical and out of the reach of most people.
Medical practitioners do not have to accept the tariff structures recommended by medical aid schemes and, in fact, most of them impose fees way above the inflation rate. It is becoming common practice for patients to receive bills five times more than the tariff rates payable by their medical schemes, a fact uncovered in a research programme by Discovery Health.
Prepare for the unexpected
The spiralling cost of private healthcare and the ever-widening gap between medical practitioner fees and tariffs paid by medical schemes led to the introduction of a short-term insurance policy known as Gap Cover. It is a policy designed to top-up the difference between what your medical scheme is prepared to pay and what your medical professionals charge you for their services.
Prepare yourself to meet those unexpected and more often than not crippling medical fees with Gap Cover, a short-term insurance policy that buys you peace of mind.
Gap Cover is available for attractive and affordable monthly premiums and covers you and your policy beneficiaries in times of need.
Who provides Gap Cover?
As previously stated Gap Cover is a short-term insurance policy and can be purchased from all leading South African insurance companies such as Liberty Health. These companies offer various plans with benefits that can be structured to meet individual needs and budgetary constraints. Gap Cover offers many benefits that include co-payments. If you read the fine print in your medical aid contract you will see that you are held personally liable for co-payments for hospital admissions and certain medical procedures. Your Gap Cover will pay in your share, leaving you free to breathe easy and recuperate from your operation without any added financial stress.
Other benefits can include oncology and dental procedures, two necessary health care requirements often omitted from medical aid contracts.
Apart from pre-existing medical conditions such as cancer and pregnancy, most Gap Cover policies become operative from the moment the contract is signed and the first premium is paid. Terms and conditions vary from one insurer to another, so do your research and make sure you purchase a product suited to your lifestyle.
Liberty Health strives to put decent health care benefits within the reach of all South Africans and is constantly streamlining its Gap Cover range of benefits to keep pace with the country’s ever-rising cost of private medical care.
Provided that you are a member of a registered South African medical aid scheme, you qualify for a Gap Cover quote. Simply complete the form seen on this page and start your journey to good health and financial peace of mind.
All info was correct at time of publishing