What is a Hospital Plan
If you have a medical aid, then no doubt you have access to world class medical services. There may well be awesome well regulated medical aid schemes that offer excellent cover but there are only a few South Africans who can afford them. Hospital plans have become the next best thing and most medical aids offer these hospital plans for in-hospital treatments. But what is a hospital plan you ask.
Hospital plans don’t offer to cover day-to-day medical expenses. They restrict members to a network of hospitals and doctors or you get those where members are free to choose private hospital or doctor of their choice.
What is a Hospital Plan – You can Land in Hospital in the Twinkling of an Eye
Many people who are not well acquainted with medical aids and hospital plans might well ask the question ‘is it worthwhile having a hospital plan?’ They reckon that they haven’t been in 
hospital for years. An unexpected accident or a sudden illness can put you in hospital for weeks and even months. The cost of a stay in a private hospital with all its treatments can be prohibitive, with some treatments such as bypass surgery running into hundreds of thousands of Rands.
Accidents happen and emergencies occur even for the fit, the young and the healthy. Anyone who can’t afford comprehensive medical cover should consider a hospital plan. Because there are different plans, you should research them and compare prices and benefits.
Hospital plans are designed to provide cover for private healthcare, however those plans often restrict members to a network of hospitals. Some plans give members freedom of choice to use any hospital or doctor. Designated service providers (DSP) are those healthcare providers who have an agreement with the hospital plan provider to offer treatments at a contracted rate.
What is a Hospital Plan – Choose a Hospital Plan from Reputable Providers
When choosing a hospital plan, there is no doubt that a company’s longevity is an indicator of the services it provides. Choose a hospital plan from reliable sources such as Momentum, Fedhealth, BestMed, Bonitas, Discovery or Medshield as examples as then at least you’re opting for sound, solid investments.
Just like with a full medical aid scheme, you will need to look at affordable hospital plans in South Africa, and there are excellent websites which allow you to compare different hospital plans from leading providers with quotes. Affordable hospital plans in South Africa will nearly always include a hospital plan from Momentum Health. On their Ingwe Option, they limit your hospitalisation cover to R1 060 000 for the family per year. Their Summit Option, their top hospital plan, offers specialists covered for up to 300%. Members can take their pick from hospital plans such as Ingwe, Access, Custom, Incentive, Extender and Summit Option.
Everyone wants an affordable hospital plan that will serve them well when they need it. This is why it is so important to compare benefits between different products. Medical costs have become out of reach for most people and medical schemes now offer a variety of hospital plans which can offer quality care to cover all those medical emergencies.
What is a Hospital Plan – Get Advice and Make the Right Choice
Always remember that you may be rejoicing at finding hospital plans with low premiums, but then you may have to be looking at less benefits too. Speak to an expert and find out about a hospital plan that will suit your specific health care needs.
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All info was correct at time of publishing