Perhaps you’ve already been there, struggling to compare apples with apples, wading through variously employed jargon in medical aids’ online information, or perhaps you’re joining the working world in earnest for the first time, and are wondering about your healthcare needs? When faced with the dizzying array of medical schemes available today－compounded by the advent of “health insurance” and the persistence of “hospital plans” －it can be confusing to say the least to compare South African medical aids. Take heart! We’ve made it simple to start in the right place when shopping medical schemes, and that’s the best and only way to end up in the right place too, with the products you need under your belt.
It’s not necessary to become engulfed in the wholesale volume of information out there, when what’s truly important is picking the right point of departure. Put another way, a series of common considerations are the only logical place to start evaluating your medical aid requirements, because those requirements stem from what you need and expect in terms of healthcare cover. Indeed, when you answer what it is that you need from medical cover, and why it is that you are comparing South African medical aids in the first place, you’re already halfway towards making the right decision. While many schemes have copious marketing copy surrounding their offers, a stripping down to the bare facts reveals that they’re all offering very much the same, standard motivation for joining. “Join us because you need it, and don’t ask too many questions!” seems to be the final reading of many schemes’ marketing copy!
With too many schemes, no matter how they couch various benefits in flowery language, the offer is pretty basic, and all the marketing talk just confuses matters for consumers hoping to compare South African medical aids. To be sure, basic is great, if basic is what you need and want, but far too many South Africans end up regretting their decision to become a member of a medical aid, because once familiar with the scheme, they realise it either doesn’t meet their requirements, or that they’re simply paying too much for benefits available for far less elsewhere.
Here’s the only intelligent point of departure:
- Firstly, accept that we as people join a medical scheme to manage the sometimes-huge bills that cutting-edge medical treatment can require. Much like buying a house or even a top-end car, sometimes we all need a bigger cushion to lean on, and healthcare is one of the aspects of modern life where you need a partner in maintaining your well-being. The first point in comparing South Africa medical aids is to acknowledge that none of us are immortal, illness and accidents happen to everyone, and that you owe it to your family to look after your health as best you can. That means making sure that you and they are covered for the medical treatment they need, when they need it, full stop.
- Secondly, and following directly on from the first point, a medical aid membership is the most cost-effective means of guaranteeing your medical health and that of your family. A common complaint around medical aids is that “It’s too expensive!” or that “I’m never ill anyway!” Consider for a moment what will happen if someone else drives into you. It’s not your fault, but now you’re involved in a car accident you never asked for. What happens when doctors tell you that without a certain life-saving procedure, your prognosis is grim. Perhaps you’re alright after the accident although hospitalised, but unless you go through a certain surgery or out-patient rehabilitation, your previous quality of life has forever gone. Illness had nothing to do with you being in this position, and how expensive is a medical scheme now that doctors are estimating surgeries or rehabilitative procedures that run into hundreds of thousands of rands, possibly more? It’s false economy to bemoan the cost of membership of a good medical scheme, because all of us can suddenly find ourselves in a situation where people are talking silly money that you simply don’t have. When life or even the quality of your life is at stake, a medical aid membership suddenly becomes your most precious possession.
- Thirdly, notwithstanding the many genuine and skilled practitioners in public healthcare in this country, we’ve all seen the grim realities broadcast in the news from time to time, about how poor or even absent public healthcare can be. When the settling of bills is taken out of the equation (by your medical aid membership), a professional and extremely smart healthcare approach emerges, one that provides world-class treatment and care. We have no way of knowing whether we’ll need a flu jab next week, or a new kidney! When you do need the smartest medical science and surgeons, top-end care, and top-end caring, you’re not going to find it in the public realm. The only tool that can provide a solution to your healthcare needs as a blanket statement, is medical aid membership.
KeyHealth Ticks the Right Boxes
It might seem irrelevant to be talking about your motivation when you want to compare South African medical aids, but without a clear understanding of the merits of being a member, you won’t correctly evaluate the value, you can’t correctly compare one list of benefits with another, and the process will soon feel like a hassle, prompting you to make a blind pick and hope for the best. KeyHealth Medical Scheme has made a mission out of educating our members and potential members on the essential value of what’s being offered. Moreover, we’ve kept things simple in our house－our language is unambiguous, and our approach really is centered on your clear understanding and peace of mind.
When you’ve worked through the three points above, and made a decision to compare medical aids to become a member, you’ll find it far, far easier to skip over the fluff you’ll find, and you’ll likely also find that KeyHealth has an ideal, tailored solution that meets all of your requirements. Call us or mail us, and allow us to evaluate your situation, and clearly depict the benefits you feel you need. To cap it all, we guarantee it’ll land at a price that makes sense!
