The family is the central unit of South African life. We wake up every day and work hard to love them and to provide for them. But are your clients looking after their own needs? Because in looking after their needs, they are doing right by their families.
The competition commission is currently investigating why private health care is so expensive and why costs increase more than inflation on an annual basis. In fact medical specialists, including that of oncology, charges up to 300% more than tariffs set by medical schemes.
If anything, this investigation shows the need for critical illness cover. FAnews spoke to Stephen van Niekerk, Head of Retail Life Insurance Products at Momentum to look into the importance of critical illness cover.
Actual costs of medical procedures
Local medical procedures are some of the most costly in the world. South Africans, with medical schemes, pay more than many First World countries for hi-tech medical procedures.
“A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan done in the South African private health sector was the most expensive out of nine countries surveyed by the International Federation of Health Plans. On average, such a scan costs almost R8 800 – R1 200 more than Switzerland and double the average cost in Chile,” says Van Niekerk.
Cancer specific costs
It is shocking when one reads this and actually has to come to terms with these costs. Some illnesses, such as cancer, are hereditary and are more prevalent in society than we think.
Van Niekerk says that this issue touches a personal cord in many families. He adds that research done by Professor Michael Herbst, Head of Health at CANSA, shows that Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMB) are not sufficient for cancer.
Herbst pointed out that the Medical Schemes Act only makes provision for so called treatable cancers under the PMB. Treatable cancers refer to cancers that have not spread beyond the organ of origin or the organ was not damaged beyond repair. He further added by saying that most schemes do not have a specific disease management process for oncology and patients are often left stranded when radiology and pathology benefits have been exhausted.
The cost of not having critical illness cover
The above proves conclusively that the need for critical illness benefits will always be there. In order to have access to the latest medical technology, clients will have to be able to afford this.
“The problem at the end of the day involves the choice of the product that will best suit a client’s specific needs. This is because although sophisticated medical technology and treatments are already available in the health sector, further developments are constantly being made,” says Van Niekerk.
In fact, there seems to be a shift towards more personalised, more accurate and more rapid diagnostic techniques with the single objective of improving the quality of peoples’ lives.
The numbers speak volumes
Momentums claims statistics are an indication of the need for critical illness cover. In 2015, Momentum paid out R398 million in critical illness claims which shows that there is a demand for such cover in the market.
“Brokers may also be noticing that some of their clients are living longer. Longevity can become a problem because as age increases, the likelihood of contracting a critical illness also increases. If we add longevity into this, clients are living longer with a critical illness than ever before,” says Van Niekerk.
There has never been a more important time to sell critical illness products than now.
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