A company medical aid is any medical scheme cover subsidised by the employer. Sometimes this is cover on a restricted or closed medical aid which is only available to employees of a specific company or sector of industry. At other times, employers may subsidise monthly medical aid contributions for their employees on open medical aids.
Employers are not obliged to subsidise medical aid cover for their employees and this perk should not be confused with other mandatory benefits like UIF (unemployment insurance fund).
A hospital plan is medical aid cover that provides benefits for in-hospital (inpatient) visits and procedures. Most medical aid hospital plans also provide chronic medication cover. Private health care is expensive and hospital costs are staggering should you not have medical aid cover. A hospital plan is not a complete medical aid with day-to-day cover and out-of-hospital benefits but it is a cost-effective option for medical care should you require hospitalisation.
What is a Medical Aid Hospital Plan?
A hospital plan is a form of medical aid cover that provides benefits in the event that you are hospitalised. Medical aid hospital plans will pay for the doctor’s consultation fees, procedure costs, investigations and tests, medicines and your hospital stay.
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Medical aid is an important cover that is more often required as you get older. In this period, it is likely that chronic conditions may develop, your health care needs grow exponentially and is crucial to ensure a good quality of life. However, the issue of affordability always arises in retirement as your ability to generate an income is limited. If your pension fund or retirement annuity is not sufficient to sustain your monthly budget, then squeezing in the cost of premium medical aid cover is going to be a difficult task.
People living with HIV have the same reproductive rights as any other person and it is not uncommon for an HIV positive man or woman to consider having a child despite the risks associated with conception. However, women who are HIV positive and planning to fall pregnant or women who are negative but wanting to conceive with a partner who is HIV positive have much to consider before conception. The priority is a healthy pregnancy without transmitting the infection to the child and this is achievable with effective HIV management.
A blood clot is simply a coagulated mass of blood components that functions as a plug to prevent the loss of blood. The process of clotting or blood coagulation is an efficient life-saving mechanism that is designed to seal any injury to the blood vessel until the wall of the vessel can restore the lining. This process is seen when you develop a scab over a cut or bleeding sore.
What is Depression?
There is often no clear distinction between the low moods we all suffer from at some point in our lives and depression, the state when it becomes an illness which needs treatment. Depression may be mild, moderate or severe.
Mild depression may be difficult to recognize and is quite often missed, but depression is not just a more serious form of sadness or being “off-mood”. When in doubt about the diagnosis, it is helpful to look for the psychological symptoms of depression, such as anhedonia (loss of desire for pleasure).
A more severe form of depression is also known as major depressive disorder (MDD) and may result in suicide. Depression can result from a medical condition or it may be the cause for certain unexplained medical symptoms.
