The Most Cost Effective Medical Aid in 2020

A cost-effective medical aid provides you with appropriate cover to meet your medical aid expenses   while also offering the best value for money. There are over 120 medical aid schemes in South Africa that can make identifying the most suitable one tricky.

Local consumers are in the habit of making the costly mistake of over-insuring themselves. This happens when they fall into a comfort zone and don’t re-look their medical aid decisions regularly to calculate whether they would be better off downgrading their plan.

Alexia Graham, Director, Hippo Advice, says “It is generally more cost-effective to take out a good medical aid hospital plan with some out-of-hospital expense cover than a comprehensive plan that has an above threshold benefit, as these are considerably more expensive.  Often members don’t reach their threshold benefits during a benefit year even though they have paid the higher premium every month. Comprehensive plans should only be considered  for members with very high out of hospital costs in a benefit year.”

Most cost-effective, medical aid choices

Every day thousands of South Africans come to Hippo for medical aid quotes. These have been the most popular value-for-money choices:
1. Medshield MediPhila – R1,416
2. Medihelp Dimension Prime 1 Network – R1,626
3. Discovery Essential Smart – R1,400

Most popular hospital plans

There is a growing trend amongst all generations of South Africans to self-fund a portion of medical care expenses. This means they choose a hospital plan over a comprehensive plan, and pay for out-of-hospital expenses from their own pocket.

This is an effective cost-saving strategy that works well even for members with chronic conditions like cholesterol or diabetes. This is because all medical aid plans – hospital, general cover, or comprehensive – are obliged by law to cover 26 prescribed minimum benefit (PMB) chronic conditions.

Most popular hospital plans for singles

Hospital plans – with hospital network rules

1. Momentum Evolve – R1, 294
2. Fedhealth FlexiFed 1 Elect – R1, 341
3. Discovery Essential Delta Core – R1, 681

Hospital plans – with choice of private hospital

1. Momentum Custom – R2, 496
2. Discovery Essential Core – R2, 104
3. Health Squared Aspire – R2, 055

Hippo provides you with easy to understand information on the important product features of each product option combined with direct advice and support to ensure that you have all the information to make the right choice.

Decide on a medical aid plan with your budget and specific needs in mind.
While some may seem more affordable than others at first glance, ask yourself if they offer value for your money. Ultimately, this would be the medical aid plan that is most suited to your needs.

Hippo will help you with easy cost comparisons online.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or medical advice.