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Medical Aid vs Health Insurance
Health insurance and medical aid differ from one another, but are
essentially both insurance products, provided by service providers,
in order to cover medical expenses. Health insurance is an insurance
product where cover is paid for and if an incident occurs a claim is
paid out to the policy holder. Medical aid is not incident based,
but rather pays for medical services and products on an ongoing
basis over a calendar year. Medical aid policies do not mature and
do not include the numerous exclusions that health insurance
policies have hidden in the small print.
One significant difference is that anyone may join a medical aid
scheme regardless of their current health conditions. There is no
discrimination as far as access to open medical aids other than a
one year restricted cover period. Even if you suffer from HIV or
cancer you may join any open medical scheme and enjoy full cover
after one year. Health insurance policies typically exclude people
from access based on current or past ailments. There are closed
medical schemes that restrict access based certain factors like
employer and level of education, but none may restrict access based
on current or past health. |
