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.