Quality healthcare for ‘man on the street’

With the annual rise of healthcare costs, who is making sure that every South African can afford and access quality healthcare? Can earning less than R4000 per month guarantee that your medical needs are covered?

According to Andrew Edwards, Liberty Medical Scheme (LMS) Executive Principal Officer, consumers are looking for affordability and flexibility, especially seeing that they are still struggling to pay off their debts and take care of their families at the same time.

As a result LMS has committed itself to breaking down the traditional perceptions that medical aid is expensive and only accessible to the rich by providing quality healthcare to the general market.

Edwards says the market has changed in recent times with more affordable medical cover products and services being in demand. He says, as one of the top five medical Schemes in the country, LMS is able to offer competitive cover to all customers, even those earning below R4 000 a month.

For example, a member who is earning R4180 could pay as little as R280 per month if subsidized for good quality medical cover.

Since the merger with Medicover in January this year, Liberty Medical Scheme has significantly extended its customer base and is able to reach more people through more offices as well as more staff who are able to give special attention to each member’s needs and/or concerns

“We understand that consumers have less money now in their pockets than before and the little left over at the end of the month barely covers medical expenses.”

In a time when many medical Schemes are raising their contributions as well as cutting benefits, LMS has increased the benefit limits by eight percent and the Medical Savings Facility (MSF) benefits by an average of ten percent. These benefits include unlimited doctors’ visits and medicines.

“Members can rest assured that they, and their families, are well covered under the Liberty Medical Scheme umbrella without worrying about spending the extra cash, which should be paying off debt,” he said.