Not only is it difficult to find a job in South Africa these days but with the economy showing slow growth, losing your job is very much a reality that every South African worker has to consider. Sometimes you as the worker may be at fault and despite repeated warnings, you may be fired. Whatever the case, being unemployed is one of the most difficult times in your life particularly when others in the household do not have stable employment. Fortunately hospital plans either in the form of a medical aid or hospital cash back plan do not discriminate based on your employment status. In other words any person can have a hospital plan even if they are unemployed.
Switching to Cheaper Plans
Although medical schemes and insurance providers will ask you about your employment details, they will not refuse you cover provided that you can afford it. Neither a medical aid hospital plan only nor a hospital cash back plan is cheap, especially when you are not working but to some extent it is essential. However, when affordability comes into the question look at alternatives rather than giving up cover altogether. You may need to downgrade your medical aid cover or opt for lower daily payouts on your hospital cash cover which means lower monthly premiums. Even though you have less cover, at least you have continued your cover.
Assess the situation carefully. Now that you have less money in your hand, you have to look at what level of cover you can afford. You may be getting unemployment insurance, you may have some sort of income protection insurance, or your employer has given you a payout and coupled with your pension fund you have some money to sustain yourself for a few months until you find a new job. It is at this time to secure yourself by careful planning. Until you secure a constant income from a job, switch to a cheaper plan that offers you at least some cover even if it is not as extensive as you were used to.
Should you keep your cover?
Before you cancel your cover, either in terms of your medical aid or hospital cash back plan, think carefully whether this is a reasonable course of action. Speak to your medical scheme or insurance provider if they have any unemployment protection in place where you premiums will be covered for a few months until you find a job. Discuss your situation with them and how you can possibly keep your cover despite facing a few months of financial difficulty. No medical scheme or insurance provider wants to lose a client and there may be contingency plans in place for such situations.
However, if your provider does offer such a service, it is only going to be for a very short period of time. Without paying your premiums your cover will be suspended within a month and cancelled by month three.
While you still have time to decide whether to keep the cover or not, here are few points to consider.
- Can you afford to pay for medical services in cash or will you be prepared to go to a government hospital or clinic?
- Even if you can tolerate public healthcare for your needs, how will you feel if your spouse or child has to opt for these services?
- Is there any other monthly expense that you can trim to instead pay for your hospital plan?
- Have you looked at the cheapest cover with your hospital plan provider and considered to switch to these options?
- Is it possible to drop some of the members on the hospital plan so that the most vulnerable and unwell can remain covered?
Of course, none of these options are ideal just like cancelling your hospital plan is not ideal. But if you are unemployed you need to look at alternatives that may not always be the best option.
Hospital Cover When Retrenched or Fired
Remember that if you have cover through your company then it is going to fall away once you are retrenched or fired. It may not happen immediately. There may be a month or two grace period in some cases. But at the end of the day you may have not option if you cannot afford the cover on your own without your employer’s subsidy. Restricted plans in terms of medical aid may no longer be open to you once you lose your jobs. Some restricted medical aids are only for employees of a certain companies or workers within a certain sector of industry. Before you lose your cover though, you may be given an option to switch over to an open scheme and therefore have continuation of cover but with another provider.