If your income only extends to a hospital plan, don’t worry. All KeyHealth products combine this affordable form of medical aid with dental benefits. Unfortunately, the prevailing financial pressures have forced many South Africans to curb their spending. Instead, they must seek ways to stretch the remains of their dwindling family budget.
However, if one is taken ill or injured, the state’s healthcare facilities are severely overstretched, and most people cannot afford treatment in a private facility without the assistance of a medical scheme. Understandably, treatment costs have also been rising, as have the basics like food and fuel prices. Costlier private healthcare often leads to higher premiums and more people settling for the support they can afford rather than the help they need. Fortunately, KeyHealth has developed some options to help avoid the need to compromise.
Cover for dentistry is generally not included in a basic hospital plan. However, when you or one of your family members has a raging toothache, you tend to need relief as quickly as possible. It is, therefore, fortunate that KeyHealth is dedicated to providing its members with more for less. Even our cheapest hospital plan includes some help with conservative dentistry.
Essence Offers Affordable Medical Aid with Dental Benefits
Anyone whose teeth are generally healthy can probably attribute this to regular check-ups rather than good luck. KeyHealth has developed Essence to provide members with an extended hospital plan that includes some essential day-to-day benefits. In addition to unlimited visits to general practitioners and virtual specialist consultations as part of the member’s prescribed minimum benefits (PMB) entitlement, the product also includes cover for limited conservative dentistry. The latter covers the following services for the main member and each of the dependent members annually:
- One check-up
- Two infection control or barrier techniques
- One use of sterilised instrumentation
- Four periapical or bitewing intraoral radiographs
Origin Takes Medical Aid With Dental Benefits One Step Further
The dentistry benefits provided by Essence are confined mainly to routine, precautionary examinations and offer only minimal support with the cost of interventions. However, based on previous experience, some members will want the reassurance that treatment costs will be covered if they should need it. For just a little extra on your premium each month, KeyHealth’s Origin option is an unlimited hospital plan that can also provide you with 100% coverage for those routine consultations and some of your more essential treatment costs.
The product does not include a fully-comprehensive dental plan. So, for example, it won’t cover the cost of plastic dentures. However, if you or a dependent family member needs an occasional filling or an emergency extraction, Origin has you covered and is highly affordable. This medical aid with dental benefits also offers each member the following annually:
- Four intraoral X-rays
- One extraoral X-ray
- One scale and polish treatment (preventative care)
Choose Equilibrium for Medical Aid With Dental Benefits for Selected Specialist Treatments
Anyone with young children will know that it can be challenging to persuade them to take proper care of their teeth. There are many things to distract them from routine brushing, and the lure of sweets and sugary drinks can be hard to resist. Also, during the early stages of a child’s development, anomalies, like protruding and uneven teeth, often become apparent and might require expensive corrective treatment. By around six to seven, children have shed several primary teeth and replaced them with permanent ones, ruling out extractions and increasing the need for more elaborate and costlier treatments. Equilibrium covers the cost of a wide range of conservative and specialised dental procedures.
Like Origin, the benefits include the same cover for consultations, intraoral and extraoral x-rays and preventative scaling and polishing treatments. However, the Equilibrium option also offers each member up to 100% payment for the following:
- Root canal therapy with certain exclusions
- One set of plastic dentures per four years
- Maxillo-facial and Oral Surgery
- Surgery in a dental chair or hospital with general anaesthesia
- 80% of the cost of orthodontic treatment for functional purposes
Fully Comprehensive Medical Aid With Dental Benefits
If you can afford it, it’s always wise to cater for every eventuality. KeyHealth’s top-of-the-range Platinum option offers members precisely that, adding payments for crowns, bridgework, and up to R5 000 for implants. Why not click here to request a quote for medical aid with the dental benefits you need?