Medical Scheme – How to choose a Medical Scheme

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Would You Know How to Choose a Good Medical Scheme?

Although we may often do so, it is important not to underestimate the importance of our health. It is easy to become complacent after years without a concern, but how well would you cope if you were to develop a life-threatening disease, fall victim to a traffic accident or require an urgent operation? The chances are that, like most South Africans, you have accepted the need to enrol in a medical scheme but would you know how to choose one that will guarantee the best cover for you and, if you are married, for your spouse and children?

Whichever product you may eventually settle for, it will be vital for you to continue to meet the monthly premium payments. Any failure to do so could see your cover and that of your dependents cancelled and any outstanding claims refused. Clearly then, you need to select a product that you will continue to be able to afford for at least a year. For an employee of a company that offers membership through a closed group, the favourable group rates, coupled with the employer contributions, should allow most members to find the cover they require at a rate that they can afford. However, should you be among the nation’s self-employed or are perhaps working for a company that is not bound to a group medical scheme, knowing how best to ensure that you choose the most effective cover you can afford can be much more important.

Given the present state of the economy, affordability is likely to play at least some part in the decision-making process for most South Africans. That said, the price tag alone should never become the main consideration of that process. What you should, in fact, be looking for is not a cheap product but one that will prove to be as cost-effective as possible. Of course, it is always a good idea to compare prices when making any purchase and comparison websites have provided us with a very useful tool to do so with very little effort.

If price is critical, select several that fall within your budget on price alone before investigating them in more detail. Be sure to base your selections on the maximum premium that you know you can afford and, if necessary, be prepared to accept that the most expensive of these might prove to be your best choice.

How to choose a medical scheme that will serve you best from among the few you have selected will require an in-depth look at the benefits that each offers and comparing these with the known and most likely needs of yourself and any dependents. Look carefully at the relevance of such benefits to your situation before deciding their importance and remember that all costs associated with the diagnosis, treatment and care of most chronic illnesses must now be covered by all of a scheme’s products.

Faced with the escalating cost of private healthcare, fund managers have needed to design more innovative and flexible products that provide adequate cover as affordably as possible. In this endeavour, few South African medical aid schemes have been as successful as KeyHealth. Forget comparisons; choose us for competitive, core benefits and exceptional affordability.

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