South Africans Exhausting Medical Aid Cover

August 19 - By mid year, the majority of certain medical aid fund members have exhausted their medical savings, according to reports.

Statistics show that over half of the eight million medical aid fund members have run out of - or are on the brink of running out of - their funds that cover daily medical expenses.

Even those members who pay through their teeth for top end executive medical packages are no longer guaranteed maximum cover, with 20% of them having their packages run out by mid year.

The numbers are even more dismal for those who are on cheaper or mid level medical insurance packages.

70% of those who chose the cheapest route have run out of funds by mid year, and more than half of those in middle levels.

The government has taken a look at these figures and wants to initiate a meeting with medical aid managers to discuss the erosion of benefits.

The health portfolio committee said that a meeting will be held in the next few weeks, and that other matters under discussion would include the impact that the National Health Insurance plan will have on South Africa's medical aids in the long run.

"Our concern is that medical aid members are faced with the unfortunate situation that they have to pay additional costs out of their pocket, and this could limit the members' access to the healthcare that they pay for," said the CE for the Council of Medical Schemes, Patrick Matshidze.

With the costs now shifting more the consumer, Matshidze said that "we see elements of some medical aids intensifying this shift by putting more onus on patients using their medical savings accounts, levying higher deductible charges and pegging the above threshold limits too high."