Wellness

 

What to consider when deciding on a medical scheme

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Are your health insurance costs too high? Try decoding your medical aid terms and conditions and associated costs to make sure that it works for you.

“While health insurance is important, it comes at a cost that is rapidly rising. Unfortunately for the consumer, this affects medical scheme membership contribution rates, and the increases of which are sometimes significantly higher than general inflation.

As schemes try to contain their costs in the face of increasing claims, they make changes to their plans and benefits, which can come as a surprise to the consumer,” says Mark Payne, CEO of the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA).

Annual review of your plan

He recommends that an annual review of your plan is absolutely vital, and will affirm that it is serving your needs rather than the other way around.

The ICPA advises on several important things you should look at when considering a new medical scheme or reviewi
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Why medical aids are so expensive.

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Healthcare is complex. Our bodies are the most complex machines we know of, and our brains and minds work in ways we do not yet fully comprehend. Despite rapid advances in medicine it remains an imperfect and growing science. This article unpacks just some of the mysteries of the healthcare system.

When health problems arise – whether medical emergencies or the development of a chronic condition – treatment costs can be extremely expensive and often too much for a typical household’s income. The solution to this is the pooling of funds earmarked for healthcare expenses so that subsidies exist between the healthy and the sick and between people at different income levels.

This happens in different ways in different environments. In South Africa, healthcare expenditure for the majority of the population is funded through a portion of general taxes collected.

For those who prefer treatment from so-called private providers, and can afford the premiums (either
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The benefits on low blood pressure

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If you were born with blood pressure on the low side, that’s good news – but there are still a few things worth knowing about this condition.

Having low blood pressure in your genetic make-up means you don’t face the risk of developing heart problems or having a stroke as a result of high blood pressure. However, a sudden drop in blood pressure can indicate something more serious.

What is considered low blood pressure?

Low blood pressure, or hypotension, is a blood pressure measurement of 90/60mm Hg* or below. A normal or ideal blood pressure reading is between 120/80 and 90/60mm Hg. Blood pressure can vary considerably over short periods, depending on:

    • body position
    • stress levels
    • physical conditions
    • medication
    • diet
    • time of day – usually lowest while someone sleeps.

Most people with chronically low blood pressure aren’t even aware of it, and if you have
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Catastrophic antibiotic threat from food

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The greatly excessive use of antibiotics in food production in recent decades has made many bacteria more resistant to antibiotics. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that antibiotic use in animal husbandry, poultry farming and aquaculture in the US is over four times USDA recommended levels. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has estimated that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the USA are used on animals.

Cheap antibiotics prone to abuse

Antibiotics are used to ensure better health and survival of animals bred for food, but they are also believed by many farmers to promote growth. As prices of antibiotics remain attractively low, they offer the prospect of higher earnings from greater output at low cost. Hence, there is little or no market incentive to reduce excessive, if not indiscriminate use, and hence the abuse of antibiotics. Thus, such efforts to increase farmer incomes and pro
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Therapy For Breast Cancer Is No Longer Cut And Dried

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High-profile media campaigns have made most South African women aware that breast cancer poses a very real risk. But the message that really needs to be conveyed is that the disease can affect anyone and that most women who get breast cancer do not have risk factors.

In addition, more and more young women are presenting with breast cancer. “The implication for South African women is important: we should be taking proactive steps for women to be ‘breast aware’ from a young age. The earlier it is detected and treated, the better the prognosis,” says specialist surgeon and breast disease specialist, Professor Carol Ann Benn, who established the Netcare Milpark Breast Care Centre of Excellence.

International accreditation

The facility, which was the first breast care centre of excellence to be established in the private sector in South Africa some 16 years ago, has been granted a three-year, full accreditation by the National Accreditation Programme f
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8 Symptoms of Endometriosis Many Doctors Don’t Recognize

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Endometriosis is one of the least understood female conditions.

Despite the fact that roughly 1 in 10 women of reproductive age suffers from endometriosis (equivalent to 5 million women in the United States and 176 million women worldwide) very little is known about the condition (1,2).

Worse yet, about three-quarters of these women experience pelvic pain and/or painful periods as typical symptoms of endometriosis.

What is Endometriosis?

According to WebMD: “Endometriosis occurs when tissue that should line the inside of your uterus, the endometrium, grows outside of it instead. Even though the tissue is outside of your uterus, it still acts like it should during your menstrual cycles. That means at the end of your period, this tissue will break apart and bleed.”

“However, the blood from this tissue has no place to go. Surrounding areas may become inflamed or swollen, and scar tissue and lesions can develop. The most common site fo
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Disastrous antibiotic hazard from food

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The greatly excessive use of antibiotics in food production in recent decades has made many bacteria more resistant to antibiotics. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that antibiotic use in animal husbandry, poultry farming and aquaculture in the US is over four times USDA recommended levels. Meanwhile, the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has estimated that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the USA are used on animals.

Cheap antibiotics prone to abuse

Antibiotics are used to ensure better health and survival of animals bred for food, but they are also believed by many farmers to promote growth. As prices of antibiotics remain attractively low, they offer the prospect of higher earnings from greater output at low cost. Hence, there is little or no market incentive to reduce excessive, if not indiscriminate use, and hence the abuse of antibiotics. Thus, such efforts to increase farmer incomes and profitabili
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Oversupply of hospital beds contributes to healthcare inflation.

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Healthcare costs consistently outpace inflation. In South Africa, these costs are not regulated so it is pivotal for medical aid schemes to explore ways and means of decreasing costs on the supplier side, particularly with hospitals.

This is coupled with a private healthcare industry cost blow-out in 2016 (largely related to increased hospital admission rates) and an oversupply of private hospital beds, particularly in metropolitan areas. There are approximately four private hospital beds per 1,000 medical scheme beneficiaries in South Africa and this number is increasing.

Oversupply of hospital beds

“Some parts of the country have as many as six beds per 1,000 people. This is twice or three times higher than the ratio seen in efficient systems with good community-delivered healthcare services,” says Dr Brian Ruff, CEO of healthcare management company, PPO Serve.

For example, the UK has 2.5 hospital beds per 1,000 population and New Z
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New Act could redress medical scheme sustainability issues

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Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has hinted at a number of reforms that directly address challenges of sustainability that the medical schemes industry is currently facing.

“We know that rising costs in healthcare are outstripping inflation, and legislated steps to address this are overdue. The proposals will usher in a new set of rules for how medical schemes operate,” says Mark Arnold, principal officer of Resolution Health Medical Scheme.

“While the details of how uniform tariffs for healthcare providers will be arrived at are not expected to be addressed in the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill, but rather will be informed by the outcome of the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry, this is an important step towards protecting healthcare consumers.”

Looking for a affordable Medical Aid or Hospital Plan, just click here Medical Aid or just
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Port Elizabeth’s Ernest Malgas drug rehabilitation centre for kids facing major problems

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The Eastern Cape’s only state-owned drug rehabilitation centre for children – a R67-million facility opened with much fanfare in Port Elizabeth just two years ago – is falling into disrepair, with rehab services compromised.

The electric fence at the Ernest Malgas drug rehabilitation centre in Red Location is no longer working, resulting in some of the drug-addicted children escaping.

It has one working geyser and a non-functioning clinic.

Residents also drink openly close to the centre, according to sources.

The centre was opened in April 2016.

Several people involved with the centre, who did not want to be named, raised their concerns last week.

They included: The broken electric fence and children escaping over the walls;
The non-functioning clinic, which has led to the children asking staff members, other than nurses, for pain tablets;
A staff member who stayed away from work for a year;
Broken pool tables, tabletennis tables and other do
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Some traces of listeria see another Tiger Brand factory shut down

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Tiger Brands has suspended production at its Pretoria plant following detection of “very low levels” of the ST6 strain of Listeria.

The company said that the bacteria detected was within government standards, however, it had decided to take precautionary
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Tiger Brands CEO – No evidence yet that Enterprise products directly led to deaths

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Tiger Brands has yet to see any evidence linking its meat products directly to the deaths of 180 people in a virulent listeriosis outbreak, chief executive Lawrence MacDougall said at press conference, on Monday

“There is no direct link with the deaths to the products, that we are aware of at this point,” MacDougall told journalists.
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Listeriosis outbreak: Hunt for a killer bug

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Cancer patients in KZN must ‘relocate to another province or die’ as last specialist in Durban resigns

It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The medical scientists at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) have been trying to find the source of the listeriosis outbreak, but the haystack seems to grow larger by the day.

With over 900 cases confirmed through laboratory tests, the food-borne disease has so far claimed 172 lives across the country.
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Oxford University (UK) tested new TB vaccine on 1,400 South African babies which had caused the death of trial monkeys

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Globalisation Kills

An investigation by the British Medical Journal has exposed a horrifying vaccine scam that took place in the same place that many unethical vaccine stories come from – Africa. There, babies were used as guinea pigs to test out a vaccine after the monkeys it was tested on died.

According to the report, nearly 1,400 infants in South Africa were given an experimental vaccine for tuberculosis by academics from Oxford University that was linked to monkey fatalities in tests. In an informational paper issued to the parents of the babies who got the jab back in 2009, it is claimed that the vaccine was “shown to be safe and effective” despite the fact that five out of six monkeys in the trial became so ill that they had to be put down.
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Listeria outbreak: Why your back-to-school lunch box staples may be dangerous

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Worried your child could be at risk of contracting the bug as they head back to school? You might have to leave polony off the menu. South Africa’s ongoing spate of listeria cases has claimed more than 60 lives in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) is now calling the world’s biggest outbreak of the..
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