Although a medical aid is an essential insurance cover these days, at times it can be unaffordable and you may have no other choice but to consider a cheaper option. If you want to keep your medical aid but cut the costs then you will have to switch over to a lower plan or even change your medical aid provider entirely.
Not paying your monthly contributions or giving up your medical aid altogether should never be considered unless you can really not afford the cover. However, before switching to a cheaper plan, it is important to make yourself familiar with all the changes that may affect the extent of your health cover.
Any person can join a medical aid irrespective of their job and domestic workers are no exception. However, domestic workers are among the lower paid workers in South Africa and medical aid cover may not always be possible without an employer’s contribution.
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.
Medical aid cover for low-income earners continues to be a contentious issue. The cost of medical aids in South Africa means that it is unaffordable for most low-income earners and up until a few years back, any portion of the medical aid premium that was subsidised by the employer was liable for tax. However, even in cases where an employer is prepared to pay as much as 50% of the monthly premium, low-income earners find it difficult to spare the extra cash from their already limited earnings to pay for medical aid cover.
Once you reach the age of 18 years, you may not be eligible to remain on your parent’s or guardian’s medical aid at the same dependent rate for children. Most medical aids in South Africa may want to increase the rate at age 18 while others will do so at the age of 21 years. If your parent’s employer is subsidising the medical aid rates then your continued membership after a certain age may also be a problem.
The high cost of private health care in South Africa usually means that if you do not have a medical aid, you will have to settle for the public health facilities. Unfortunately medical aids in South Africa are not affordable for a large portion of the population and only 1 in 7 South Africans have medical aid cover. While the promise of a National Health Insurance (NHI) sometime in the future gives hope to those without medical aid cover, in the interim, a comprehensive and affordable medical aid is your only chance of dealing with the high costs of private health care. A cheap medical aid is not easy to find. Most medical aids in South Africa are priced similarly and essentially, you get what you pay for. If a medical aid provides large benefits, it will be priced higher. However many medical aids are now offering cheaper plans to appeal to those on a tight budget.
