SIMON BROWN: Our most important asset

Health care is both critically important and often eye-wateringly expensive, which can leave us in a bind, especially when things are tough.

The first cost is medical aid, which itself is not cheap but, even then, we find ourselves with all sorts of payments that aren’t covered by medical aid or having exceeded the annual limits.

But there are ways you can manage these costs and try to reduce the pain of health care on our wallets. The first is to know your needs and the second is to know your medical aid.

Your medical needs will depend on many factors, such as age, general health and even issues such as whether you need to wear prescription glasses. If you’re younger and healthier, a complex medical aid is likely to be overkill. But regardless of how healthy you may be, you still need medical aid because health can change quickly.

Knowing your medical aid offering is also important. There will be different levels at different costs that you can select to match your needs. Remember that all medical aids have to provide the basic prescribed minimum benefits (PMB), which is a detailed list of conditions they will pay for, regardless of limits.

You can also shop around for services such as doctors,  who can charge anything from a few hundred rands for a consultation to a thousand rands. I have even seen how a doctor just down the road in a different suburb may charge markedly more than another. Don’t be shy to ask the doctor’s fee when making an appointment and calling around to find a more affordable one. 

Glasses are the same: they can cost a fortune, but keeping them simple and shopping around can reduce the cost significantly.

Most medical aids also have network providers who are cheaper, and recently we have seen medical vouchers being offered. Netcare offers a doctor visit plus medication for less than R500, while Dis-Chem offers a virtual doctor consultation for half that.

If you’ve been prescribed medication, speak to your doctor about cheaper alternatives or generics, which can often be a fraction of the price. Pharmacists are also worth considering for smaller ills or ailments in that they can recommend over-the-counter options without paying a consultation fee.

Other ideas are hospital plans that will pay a set rate for every night in hospital but again, be careful, as a hospital visit can be extremely expensive and cost way more than the hospital plan pays. So this is not an alternative to medical aid, but rather supplementary to it.

Ultimately, our health is our most important asset and, as such, while it may be expensive to protect, it’s vital that we do. So, cutting corners is not a good idea, but we can be clever about how we manage our health-care needs. Live healthily, take the annual flu shot and shop around.