The past two years (2008, 2009) have seen a few small medical aids in South Africa becoming insolvent and filing for dissolution before the year end. This has left their members in the lurch, despite promises to pay outstanding medical bills to doctors and other practitioners. While medical aid members may claim to be ignorant, the warning signs should be evident to any attentive member. In these cases, it is best to switch over to a more stable medical aid rather than waiting for your medical aid to go bust.
Your BMI (body mass index) is the measure of your weight in relation to your height. This will give you an idea of whether you are underweight, of a normal weight or overweight.
Out-of-hospital medical aid benefits are not unlimited and most members would have experienced a situation where their medical aid funds were exhausted. Once your funds are depleted for the year, you will have to wait for the following year in order to qualify for the new benefit allocation. This is every medical aid member’s nightmare especially if it occurs early in the year but with careful planning, you can avoid this scenario.
The breastbone (or breast bone) is the long flat bone located at the centre of the chest to which the ribs and clavicle (shoulder bone) attach. Pain of the breastbone (sternal pain) is a symptom that most of us will experience in life and while it may often be due to a minor cause, breastbone pain may also be indicative of serious medical conditions requiring emergency treatment.
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There are a number of reasons why your insurance application may have been rejected and this varies among different companies and types of policies. For insurance policies providing life cover, dread disease or disability benefits as well as physical impairment and income protection, certain medical tests would be required. The results of these tests in conjunction with your profile (determined by your age, gender and family history) may led to your insurance policy being declined.
Medical aid cover is considered essential these days as the cost of private health care continues to rise. Even the simplest of ailments can be financially crippling if you need to be hospitalized or require extensive tests and investigations. While the public health care system strives to meet the needs of the population, there is no denying that it is understaffed and overworked and the level of care is substandard at times.