Medical Aid – Medical Aid for Single Parents

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Medical Aid for Single Parents is of Growing Local Importance

In keeping with the rest of the world, the spike in the divorce rate has left an increasing number of children in the care of just one parent. Apart from the inherent difficulties in managing a job and bringing up a child with little or no assistance, there are many areas of society that have yet to catch up with the realities of modern living, such as the new social norms, and that have therefore made no provision for the often-unique needs of this significant and growing demographic. Employers, for instance, in all but a few exceptional cases, have been slow to recognise and to provide for the needs of working moms and dads who are raising kids on their own, with facilities such as in-house childcare and more flexible working hours.

As it happens, most of the country’s medical aid schemes have also been somewhat remiss in developing products suitable for single parents. One of the biggest problems resulting from their changed circumstances tends to be that of affordability. The average product has been developed with either the needs of the individual or the nuclear family in mind. Since, in the latter case, the first dependent member is normally the spouse of the main member, risk estimates and premium costs are based upon the likely needs of a second adult and can tend to price these products beyond the range of those with just the needs of a child to cover. The obvious danger of this limitation is that it can force a cash-strapped member to seek out a solution that, although more affordable, is not able to adequately meet the potential needs of an ill child.

So, if opting for conventional family cover is almost certain to be too expensive, and compromising on benefits could prove to be a disaster, what possible solutions are there for those attempting to find medical aid that is both affordable and suitable for single parents? Where there is cooperation between the divorced parties, it is often possible for the more financially stable ex-spouse to accept an uninsured child as a dependent on their own scheme, perhaps as a condition of the divorce settlement. All too often, however, a child in this position is prone to be used as bargaining chip between the embittered exes.

Since affordability is likely to be the main issue in such cases, it is worthwhile consulting one of the nation’s oldest established schemes with a long-standing reputation for innovation and value for money that has spanned almost six long decades since the heydays of medical aid industry. Catering for the needs of single parents, couples, individuals, and young people with equal efficiency, the KeyHealth range of products has been crafted specifically to provide exceptionally comprehensive cover at premiums that should be within the reach of all with a job.

Combining the many benefits covered by the below-average premiums, all KeyHealth products are characterised by the inclusion of free core benefits. Of these, some, such as the Smart Baby Programme and Easy ER, are valuable inclusions that are serving to make selected KeyHealth products the preferred choice of medical aid for many single parents.

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