The medical aid industry saw a massive shake-up in April as National Treasury introduced new regulations which will see a limit on the amount of gap cover and hospital cash-back policies you can claim, as well as the discontinuation of all primary healthcare policies.
This is was done in an effort to differentiate between “medical scheme products” and “health insurance”, both of which are regulated by separate Acts causing confusion in the medical arena.
The new regulations will now outlaw all primary healthcare policies from 1 April. According to legislation these are not seen as full medical schemes, instead providing limited medical service benefits, such as GP visits, basic dentistry and optometry, and some acute and chronic medication.
The new laws also stipulate that hospital cash-back plans are limited to paying their clients a maximum of R3,000 per day, or a total lump sum of R20,000 per year. Currently there are no limits in place for these pa
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