Most medical aids in South Africa allow you to add your parents to your medical aid plan as dependants, as long as you can prove that they are financially dependent on you. The same applies to adding people like your nieces and nephews if they have been orphaned, for example, or your siblings or grandparents.

Adding your parents onto your medical aid will result in cost savings, as they’ll be covered at lower rates for dependants. In many cases, if you are adding an adult dependant, there’s a general waiting period of around three months – and up to twelve months if that adult dependant has a pre-existing condition. Once this waiting period is over, these dependants will then have the same level of cover as the main member, with access to the same risk benefits.

Note that with Fedhealth, late joiner penalties may also apply to parents. These penalties vary from 5 – 75% of the monthly contribution, depending on how many years the parents have been without medical aid cover. To avoid these penalties, the main member will need to provide membership certificates to prove the previous medical aid cover that the parents have had in the past.