Medical Expense shortfalls are a reality. Don’t be burdened with unexpected medical fees when your doctor charges more than the medical aid rate for in-hospital treatment, or the hospital charges co-payments for operations.

Gap cover is a short-term insurance product that helps protect you from medical expense shortfalls, which happen when your doctor charges more than the medical aid rate for in-hospital treatment, or the hospital charges co-payments for operations. These unanticipated expenses can leave you with an unexpected financial burden that you will have to pay for out of pocket. With rampant medical inflation and the cost of medical procedures constantly increasing, this could easily run into hundreds of thousands of Rands.

As medical aids are under constant pressure to balance benefits with affordable contributions, they have had to resort to creative strategies to attempt to maximise coverage. This means that co-payments now exist where previously there were none, and members are now being restricted to using certain providers at certain networks, with penalties applied if patients go outside of these networks.

Gap cover should be part of your financial planning no matter your age or life stage. It is never too early to start thinking about your financial future, because the sooner you start the more time you have to plan, save and invest. Effective financial planning is essential whether you are in your 20s, your 80’s or any age in between, and this does not just mean having retirement annuities in place. With the rising cost of medical treatment and increasing shortfalls in medical aid cover, medical expenses can easily become a burden, and while you are typically young and healthy earlier in life, accidents happen and the older you get, the more likely you are to need costly medical treatment. Gap cover has become a vital part of a comprehensive financial planning toolset, no matter what your current age or life stage is.