Hospital Insurance Explained In Plain English
Most of us are familiar with the saying that life is what happens when you’re making other plans. This simply means that you can plan for your future and take all the necessary precautions, but regardless of that, something can still go wrong!
You can be involved in a horrible car accident and end up in hospital connected to life support… Or you can suddenly fall very ill and need to be hospitalized immediately. This is not situations we want to think about, but just because we don’t want to think about it, does not mean that we should not still be prepared for it!
If you don’t have an unlimited savings account, you ending up in hospital might be a huge problem for yourself and your family. If you’re the only breadwinner in the house and you are all of a sudden not able to work, how will you provide for your family? If you’re out of action for an extended period, your loved ones will eventually run out of even basics such as food and a roof over their heads. Not all families are able to afford medical aids these days. Even some of the basic plans turn out to be quite expensive, especially when families with children are involved. So what will you do if you don’t have medical aid and you land up in hospital? Or what if you have medical aid, but they don’t cover the specific procedures or conditions that you are hospitalized for?
The answer to your prayers comes in the form of hospital insurance!
Hospital insurance should not be confused with medical aid. Whereas medical aid will pay for specific conditions, specific procedures etc, hospital insurance can be used as and for what you wish! Hospital insurance will pay out a lump sum per day that you are in hospital - this can then be used to take care of your family while you’re not able to work, to pay some of your medical bills or to close the gap between what your medical aid pays and what your actual expenses while in hospital come down to.
It is of vital importance to make sure that you know what your hospital policy will cover, and what it won’t. The last thing you want when hospitalized is another nasty surprise in the form of a policy not providing sufficient cover. For example, some medical aids will not cover certain pre-existing conditions, but it might be covered through your hospital insurance!
Hospital insurance can be seen as your safety net, your ”in case of emergency” backup!
As with a lot of other insurance policies, some hospital insurance policies also offer a no claim cash bonus. Such a policy is in effect a win-win situation: If something goes wrong, you do have the insurance to cover it. If nothing goes wrong, you’ll receive some cash back which can then be used as you wish.
Hospital insurance is very affordable, so even if you don’t have money to throw around, there will still be a policy that will cater for your needs!
There’s a saying that pilots often use that goes something like: The most useless piece of runway is the piece of runway behind you. With the critical phases of flight (taking off, landing etc) it is not possible to suddenly turn around when you’re in trouble. The same goes for hospital insurance: Don’t wait until you’re in the intensive care unit of a hospital before you decide to consider hospital insurance… It would not be possible to turn around…
