Health Care Collaboration

Countries like South Africa offer a National Health Service for every citizen, meaning they are provided with health insurance covered by Social Security and National Insurance funds.

Well, no, not exactly. The coverage many citizens receive is bare minimum, unable to keep up with the fast pace and always changing medical field. The coverage does not do justice for the high costs.

A lot of major businesses are finding more peer pressure to adopt a company wide insurance plan that helps employees pay for basic medical needs as well as more severe and life threatening medical needs. This will hopefully in turn allow more citizens around the world access to primary health care.

Employees who not receive coverage from their employee are forced to seek health insurance privately. Employees either take their chances with state provided health insurance or contact private health insurance agencies and discus their options with a broker.

After you contact an insurance broker of your choice, the agency will appoint a doctor’s physical which you must attend. Doctor’s physicals allow the doctor to analyze and judge how your body is operating and what state of health it is in. The medical report will outline the state of your vital organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver.

The doctors are required to ask you personal questions at the appointment. These questions will range from your diet and exercising habits, to whether you smoke or do elicit drugs. While these questions are embarrassing, you must answer them honestly. The doctor will also take into account your weight and if it could improve.

The doctor must also examine your family’s history of medical problems or mental illness. Through your family tree, the doctor can predict and assess the chances of you catching one of these hereditary diseases.

Once the physical has concluded, the doctor will fax the medical report and his or her comments to the insurance broker. The broker now must sit down and study all this information. “Is he or she a health risk?” “Is he or she overweight?” “Does the client have a lot of past family illness?” The answer to these questions could decide whether or not the agency is willing to accept you.

Unless you are extremely overweight, abuse your body in one way or another, or have extreme past problems and health concerns ? an insurance broker is likely to accept.

Take care of your body, eat properly, and exercise. These three simple steps will leading to a more satisfied and happy you, and will also greatly reduce the odds of an insurance agency accepting you into their family.

Graham McKenzie is the content Syndication Manager at insurance123.co.zaSouth Africa’s leading Health Insurance information portal.

A lot of people settle for health insurance that is free of charge, known as public sector health insurance. The benefits of public sector health insurance are it costs nothing and provides basic coverage. You never have to worry about it unless you get sick or need other medical attention. But what if something goes terribly wrong and you cannot cover the extremely high medical costs? You should have signed up for a policy.

However, most people need to upgrade to a more feasible rate. Improving your coverage means more services are provided and more costs covered. It’s a safe bet to take on something as unpredictable as health. And best of all the premiums are not always that high, especially if you are in relatively good health.

Medical science and research has discovered the average life span of male and females increasing. The numbers are quite staggering as statistics show an average of 81-82 years for females and 77-78 years for males. What could you do in your life with those extra years?

However, if you do not live a healthy and active lifestyle, how can you expect to stay in good health? Adopting a healthier lifestyle means being careful of what you eat, exercising more often, and moderating alcohol intake. This also means kicking old habits like smoking where it is a common link to lung cancer and other diseases.

Once you have done your part to reduce your risk of bad health, it’s now time to turn the responsibility over to the health insurance company. You might think, ‘I’m healthy, I do not need health insurance,” but that is the entire purpose of health insurance. It covers health costs if God forbid, something terrible should strike at any given moment.

The bad tendency to fall into is being complacent with your current health and only turning to medical attention when your health really becomes horrible. Now you are rushing to the insurance company to gain coverage on your treatment. The problem is insurance companies will only cover the bare minimum they can, forcing you to still carry some of the burden in terms of dollars. If you sign up in advance, your coverage is much stronger and may not require you to pay a cent of your medical bills.

Do not take the chance. Diseases and health problems can occur at any moment and put you or your family in financial debt. Prepare for the future, protect you and your family, and avoid the hassle that will happen if something terrible strikes.

Graham McKenzie is the content Syndication Manager at insurance123.co.zaSouth Africa’s leading Health Insurance information portal.