Medical Aid

[Eddy Gordo]

I signed up for gap cover earlier this year. I had a visit to the doc and had a procedure out of hospital, but at hospital in the doctors rooms. Gap cover aint covering for the extra cost.

 

Is the a gap cover that will cover this? and which one. I am with zest life at the moment and its costing me R199 pm

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I signed up for gap cover earlier this year. I had a visit to the doc and had a procedure out of hospital, but at hospital in the doctors rooms. Gap cover aint covering for the extra cost.

 

Is the a gap cover that will cover this? and which one. I am with zest life at the moment and its costing me R199 pm

Hmmmm... depends what the procedure was. Some higher end gap cover products may cover it, but not all of them. They're designed to boost in hospital (admission) coverage and copayments / deductibles / cancer coverage etc. Not out of hospital stuff.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I will pay the medical aid, public hospitals are a gamble.

I'm sure I am not the only one who heard the story a couple weeks back of the guy who didn't have the R20.00 when his father went in to one of the hospitals and the old man died because they didn't do anything.

Though on the flip side to that, my mother has a chronic disease, and she sees a whole bunch of professors that are at JHB General because they're the absolute best in the country, and she has never had anything but good experiences there.

Yes, I think this is the biggest issue in keeping a private medical aid, the unknown risk of the public health.

 

At one time I was involved in a project in aid of the Red Cross Childrens Hospital in Cape Town, its in Mowbray or Rondebosch I cant quite remember now, but short story long all the vendors were invited to an open day at the hospital and I was staggered at the professionalism and quality of the services there. I remember thinking I would really have no issue checking my kids in there, it was clean, orderly, well maintained, professional and as far as I could see, the kids received above average care. It was a shining beacon of hope and if all public health was like this, I think private medical aid would struggle.  

 

On the other hand, this was probably 9 or 10 years ago, so I guess things may have changed, and I know all to well its probably not the public health norm, but at the time, I can honestly say, I was very impressed.  

Edited July 16, 2015 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Yes, I think this is the biggest issue in keeping a private medical aid, the unknown risk of the public health.

 

At one time I was involved in a project in aid of the Red Cross Childrens Hospital in Cape Town, its in Mowbray or Rondebosch I cant quite remember now, but short story long all the vendors were invited to an open day at the hospital and I was staggered at the professionalism and quality of the services there. I remember thinking I would really have no issue checking my kids in there, it was clean, orderly, well maintained, professional and as far as I could see, the kids received above average care. It was a shining beacon of hope and if all public health was like this, I think private medical aid would struggle.  

 

On the other hand, this was probably 9 or 10 years ago, so I guess things may have changed, and I know all to well its probably not the public health norm, but at the time, I can honestly say, I was very impressed.  

Nope, Red Cross is still a beacon. And you're right - it's in Rondebosch, just near Rondebosch Common. It quite frequently has the heli there.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Nope, Red Cross is still a beacon. And you're right - it's in Rondebosch, just near Rondebosch Common. It quite frequently has the heli there.

Thats great hear, long may they prosper.

 

It just shows, it is doable and theres no secret to running a first class public system, you just need to have interest and pride, the rest follows naturally. 

[Eddy Gordo]

Yeah red cross is great pity they strictly children only

[igg]

After having helped compile the asset register for KZN DOH, I can say that our public hospitals have a lot of world class equipment.

 

The issue is, South Africa being what it is, they often lack the skills to use said equipment, so some of it just sits around doing nothing. There's also great globs of stuff that no one knows where it is... we're talking millions of rands here (if not hundreds of millions). It's on the asset register but no one can physically locate a R5m machine.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

After having helped compile the asset register for KZN DOH, I can say that our public hospitals have a lot of world class equipment.

 

The issue is, South Africa being what it is, they often lack the skills to use said equipment, so some of it just sits around doing nothing. There's also great globs of stuff that no one knows where it is... we're talking millions of rands here (if not hundreds of millions). It's on the asset register but no one can physically locate a R5m machine.

Yah, I can relate. A friend of mine is involved in the tractor business, he says they replied to a tender for a tractor for a municipality, the tender called for a unit with all the bells and whistles, air conditioning, computer programming, digital instrumentation etc, a 10 bar tractor and auxiliaries deal in other words.

 

They won the tender and supplied the tractor.

 

Five years later the tractor is still standing where it was offloaded at the sheds, the grass has grown all over it and it is weather beaten and ravaged, never even been started.

 

Its just a very sad state of affairs.

[PhilipV]

Thats great hear, long may they prosper.

 

It just shows, it is doable and theres no secret to running a first class public system, you just need to have interest and pride, the rest follows naturally.

Same applies to Tygerberg and Grootte Schuur. The academic hospitals have great staff.

I know a couple of Dr's who work in the state hospitals, they actually choose to work there as it is great.

As the one state Dr said: "in the state you will get the treatment you need, but we won't wipe you're butt and give you chocolates while trading you." he works at Karl Bremer in Bellville. Has a lot of weird stories to tell though...

 

At the end of the day having medical aid is a catch net that you never want to use, call it a grudge purchase if you want, but after my knee op last year, I'll never moaning about paying discovery again.

[HDW]

Anyone heard of OCSA care? Would like to hear some opinions for interest sake? It doesn't look too bad (looks can be deceiving though).

 

http://www.ocsacare.co.za/

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Anyone heard of OCSA care? Would like to hear some opinions for interest sake? It doesn't look too bad (looks can be deceiving though).

http://www.ocsacare.co.za/

It's only open to companies, and is an occupational healthcare solution pitched at lower income earners who would not ordinarily be able to afford medical aid.

 

IOW - not for us.

 

(from their site)

 

 

OCSACare provides comprehensive occupational healthcare solutions. We have different product options designed to ensure our clients will be able to choose a solution to meet their company’s needs. Our experts will discuss your company’s requirements and then recommend an appropriate product and implementation plan.

OCSACare has entry-level cost-effective options for small companies with fewer than 10 employees right through to comprehensive offerings for larger companies.

[HDW]

It's only open to companies, and is an occupational healthcare solution pitched at lower income earners who would not ordinarily be able to afford medical aid.

IOW - not for us.

(from their site)

OCSACare provides comprehensive occupational healthcare solutions. We have different product options designed to ensure our clients will be able to choose a solution to meet their company’s needs. Our experts will discuss your company’s requirements and then recommend an appropriate product and implementation plan.

OCSACare has entry-level cost-effective options for small companies with fewer than 10 employees right through to comprehensive offerings for larger companies.

Thanks mate

[Letum911]

Hey guys. Does anyone have contact details for (or is) a medical aid broker in Centurion/Pretoria area?

 

I just received a notice from Discovery that my medical aid will be going up next year and I do believe that Discovery has better "bang for your buck" plans than the one I'm on.

[Letum911]

*Bump

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Sorry letum, I don't know anyone up in jhb, but I'll be happy to give you a name of a med aid specialist down here in CT who is fantastic at what he does.

 

Name is Carl Laubscher of Carl Laubscher Financial Services. Tell him I sent him your way.

[Tbird1983]

Ok haven't read all of this thread, but I have been working in the medical aid industry for 11 years now. Heard some hectic stories of Govt hospitals. So long as I can afford it, I will def belong to a med aid. Oh and I saw a post somewhere above asking about discovery plan changes. Word of advice, shop around at other schemes, discovery prices vs benefits are not that great at all. Fedhealth and Bonitas have just launched similar wellness programs to discoverys vitality so they are 2 good ones to look at. Bonitas is second largest to med aid in SA .. And no I don't work for Bonitas and not pushing their product LOL.