Use your medical scheme to unleash children’s full development potential

Josua Joubert

Ask the right questions and know where to look for meaningful value

A recent local consumer survey has unveiled concerning trends in financial freedom, with the Q3 TransUnion 2023 Consumer Pulse Study reporting a staggering 62% reduction in discretionary spending among respondents with further cuts expected.

As households nationwide adopt more conservative spending habits, the weight of insurance and medical scheme premiums has become a significantly heavier financial burden for many.

Josua Joubert, chief executive and principal officer of CompCare Medical Scheme sheds light on a hidden opportunity within this economic challenge, delving into how informed healthcare choices can not only ease the burden of essential expenses but also result in significant cost savings and improved overall wellbeing.

“As a person becomes economically active and begins to achieve their life’s milestones, one of the primary considerations is safeguarding those achievements. Perhaps it is your first car, your most prized possessions, your home, or your life itself. Much as it pains us all to pay for it, insurance is simply a priority when protecting what is ours,” he notes.

“Healthcare cover naturally works under the same premise, ensuring that you and your loved ones have essential cover when needed and preventing your family from falling into financial hardship should a costly healthcare event occur. However, more than this, medical scheme cover is a living gift that can provide additional benefits, unlike other types of insurance.”

Joubert points out that, in particular, young families working to become financially established have much to gain from seeking a healthcare partner that offers children’s benefits well above the market average.

“It’s worth knowing from the outset that certain medical schemes offer well above average market value for annual children’s wellness benefits, starting from birth and carrying your family throughout the early years and into the teens.

“Just as newborn screenings and paediatric consultations are traditionally aligned to early development milestones, the new generation medical scheme also provides for that all-important primary school readiness assessment and psychometric testing for adolescents.

“As is widely upheld in the healthcare environment, children are not little adults, and these years are crucial in setting strong foundations for cognitive and emotional development. There is a need to recognise and support this from a healthcare perspective, an imperative that certain medical schemes have acknowledged for some time.”

According to Joubert, physical development in children, by the same token, requires a particular and age-specific approach that helps children identify which physical activities work for them as an individual at an age when attention to this aspect of their development is sometimes overlooked.

He further notes that teens, whose bodies have grown significantly and who tend to engage more seriously in competitive sport, can benefit considerably from the opportunity to tailor their physical fitness programme in consultation with a healthcare professional.

“This reasoning extends into dietary wellness – an evolving area of childhood development that requires ongoing attention. Here again, the nutrition that is needed in a young and growing body is very different to that of an adult, and while there is no doubt that every parent always does their best to provide a balanced diet, some professional guidance in this area can only help to take that development potential even further.”

Joubert says that partnering with skilled healthcare professionals such as biokineticists and dietitians to form well-entrenched relationships in the service of young members is but one of the ways that such benefits can be paid directly from a scheme’s risk pool, leaving all other benefits of the member completely untouched.

“The fact is that healthcare is costly, and no medical scheme member, no matter their age, should ever have to take the knock in their savings or other benefits simply to make use of preventative care that will ultimately benefit not only them but also their medical scheme in the future.

“Likewise, benefits such as 24-hour access to a paediatric healthcare advice line and unlimited GP visits for children under the age of six, which answer to the very real needs of the young family, must therefore be made possible to deliver actual savings without compromising care.

“A holistic view of healthcare cover goes far beyond the bare essentials, and when it comes to families, childhood development is a key focus area for medical schemes that are serious about investing in the members of tomorrow.

“This point is all the more valid in light of concerns around what the National Health Insurance may mean for the next generation. Right now, there is little more than speculation about how and when this eventuality may unfold, but making smart choices at this time can provide the kind of healthcare backing that ticks the relevant boxes while giving a family much more in the most meaningful areas of life,” concludes Joubert.