Health Insurance vs Medical Aid in South Africa – What you need to know
Leading South African insurance provider Oneplan regularly gets asked by prospective clients what the difference is between health insurance and medical aid.
While both products deliver financial protection against your medical expenses, the way they do this is very different.
It is therefore important that you understand the differences between the two and pick the right one for you and your family.
Health Insurance
While medical aid exclusively covers your medical treatments and expenses, health insurance primarily covers the impact your medical conditions have on your life.
For example: if you cannot work due to a health problem, medical aid will exclusively cover your treatment, whereas health insurance will also reimburse you for your lost income.
Health insurance plans allocate a monetary limit for a list of specified benefits – including lifestyle incidents like loss of work and incurring a disability – as well as for primary healthcare products and services, such as consultations with general practitioners, basic medication, preventative care, and specialist visits.
Medical aid
Medical aid plans support a wide range of direct medical expenses, such as doctor’s visits, surgery, dental work, and medication.
Customers pay a monthly fee to be a member of a medical aid, and when they have medical expenses that are covered under their plan the following takes place:
- The costs are paid for by the medical aid provider in full, or a co-payment may be required in certain cases.
The challenge, however, is that more affordable medical aid plans only cover certain medical expenses – leaving you to fend for yourself when a treatment or medication is not covered.
The more expensive medical aid plans include a savings pocket, too, that can be used to pay for expenses that are not covered directly under your plan – but plans with savings pockets tend to be priced at several thousand rand per month.
Which to choose
While medical aid and health insurance are both good to have, health insurance usually offers better value for money.
This is because medical aid plans must cover the high cost of life-threatening conditions, while health insurance sticks to a set list of benefits and limits.
If you can afford it, the best choice is to sign up for both medical aid and health insurance – as this is a great way to ensure you and your family are looked after in every health-related scenario.
Oneplan
Oneplan is an industry-leading health insurance provider that delivers excellent value through its Onecard feature.
This card can be pre-loaded with Oneplan funds using the insurer’s app, and you can then simply pay with your Onecard for your treatment or medication.
This is a superior process to most medical aids, which often require you to pay your doctor out of your own pocket and then claim back afterwards.
Other benefits of Oneplan’s health insurance products include:
- No limited network of doctors for all Day-to-Day Benefits
- In-Hospital Cover that includes; casualty, illness, accidents, dread disease, birth and neo natal.
- Excess Buster add-on that removes all excesses on claims
- Pricing from as low as R450 per month
- Access to all major private hospital groups.
- Added Additional benefits which include Accident Disability Cover, Family Accidental Death Cover, Trauma, Assault and Accidental HIV.
To learn more about Oneplan Health Insurance for South Africans you can click here, or you can click here for their range of Health Insurance plans. You can also click here to get a quote or sign up online and get 30% OFF your first 2 months’ premiums & waive your Onecard fee.
Oneplan – To Make Today Better
Oneplan products underwritten by Bryte Insurance Company South Africa Ltd
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