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State-run facilities are an option, but in this country they need to cater for a vast number of the population who cannot afford medical care. If you are in a position to pay for a medical aid, why tax under-resourced and struggling provincial hospitals when a medical aid can cover you.

Still not making sense? Maybe these stories will scare you into action.

""I tried to be strong when my husband was diagnosed with cancer, but when the bills started pouring in, I just couldn''t cope...""
by John Smith - 5/14/2010 11:45:56 AM

My husband and I both work for small companies, where you have the option of paying for your own medical aid. Somehow though, we both never got round to it, managing with the odd doctor''s and dentist''s visits here and there. We didn''t think it was too much of an issue. Until Clive, my husband, was diagnosed with bowel cancer. At that time, all you think about is whether they''ll survive and what you''re going to tell the children. It started with a string of tests and doctors'' visits and they just didn''t stop. Pretty soon our savings had dried up and Clive seemed to be getting sicker despite treatment. Surgery took its toll on all of us and the worst of it all was that I was worrying about the costs and not just my husband''s health. It was a guilt-ridden, anxious time that I just couldn''t see ending. Clive is fine now and much better. The cancer has disappeared but just when we thought we could return to our normal lives, we had to deal with medical bills that amounted to almost a hundred thousand rands. When I speak to people now who tell me about how having a medical aid is something you only really appreciate when the need arises, I don''t scoff at them anymore.

""Bleeding and screaming…I was dragged away from my girlfriend...""
by John Smith - 5/14/2010 11:43:57 AM

I work for a large corporate and have a pretty good medical aid. My girlfriend on the other hand runs her own small work-from-home business. It was a tough start, but she was doing rather well and we decided to celebrate with a holiday to the Eastern Cape. The weather wasn''t so great and I didn''t know the roads, so I guess the whole trip didn''t start off too well and should have been a portent of what was to come later. I crashed our car into the back of a truck and while our injuries weren''t horrific, it was an extremely frightening and terrible experience. I kept blacking out, so I don''t know how the police or ambulances got there. The car was a total wreck and paramedics struggled to get us out. I was hallucinating and delirious, shouting at the police and paramedics. When they got us both out of the car, they laid my girlfriend on a stretcher, with her neck in a brace, her face was badly bruised and I could see blood everywhere. I didn''t know the extent of her injuries and I was hopelessly terrified. I barely remember the paramedics asking me about medical aid, all I recall was that we were being taken to two separate ambulances. I kicked up a fuss and began shouting at everyone. I assume I behaved pretty badly and gave the people assisting us a hard time, but I couldn''t make sense of what was going on, I just know that I didn''t want to leave my girlfriend alone. But they took her away and there I was bleeding and screaming, being dragged away from her to be transported to a private hospital around the corner while she was taken to a provincial hospital, the nearest one being an hour''s drive away. It was really a terrifying experience, for me, because I was racked with guilt and felt totally powerless, not being able to help her. For her, it was because she didn''t know where she was going to be taken and what kind of treatment she would receive. We managed to get her admitted to my hospital eventually, but not without a large deposit and hospital bills that we are both still trying to pay. Needless to say, she has joined my medical aid since then.

Think about this

A mere tonsillectomy will cost you around R3 000. We cover the cost in full.
A medical aid that only covers 100% of NHRPL will only pay around R700 toward the full cost.

Having a baby will cost you about R6 500 for gynaecologist's fees, only.
We cover this cost in full but a scheme that pays 100% of NHRPL will leave you with about R4 000 to pay out of your own pocket.

R12 000! That's the going rate for a normal delivery when having a baby without a medical aid.

R22 000! That's what you'll have to fork out to bring your little bundle of joy into the world through caesarean section, if you don't have a medical aid.

Need a colonoscopy? It will cost you around R3 000 without a medical aid. And if you're with a scheme that only covers 100% of NHRPL you will have to pay around R1 800 of that yourself.