Giving members more control over expenses

Fedhealth has announced an average annualised contribution increase of 5.5% for 2022 which includes a three-month increase holiday.

The scheme plans to fund the increase for the first three months of 2022 by utilising R105m of its excess reserves. Despite the increase holiday, benefit enhancements kick in on January 1.

“Our reserves grew by R189m in 2020 due to a reduction in admissions primarily driven by nonemergency electives,” explains Fedhealth principal officer Jeremy Yatt. “We elected to manage those reserves responsibly, following a prudent view when setting contribution increases for 2021.”

To ensure sustainable contribution increases, an average 7.4% increase is actually required but as a result of the scheme ploughing back its reserves, members will only receive the reduced 5.5% annualised increase, he reveals.

“In times like these, where affordability means everything, we take great pride in helping our members to enjoy the best possible cover, without breaking the bank,” says Yatt.

Fedhealth’s differentiation has long been focused around customisation, and allowing members to create and control their medical aid through the scheme’s innovative MediVault and flexiFED option range.

“For the past three years Fedhealth’s MediVault and Wallet system has been reshaping the way day-to-day benefits work, giving members more control over their monthly medical aid expenses,” explains Yatt. “We’ve since refined it based on feedback received from both members and brokers, and for 2022 we’ve streamlined it even further.”

As far as hospital cover is concerned, members are still able to choose their cover based on their life stage by choosing one of four flexiFED options. All options can be used as hospital plans, but with the added safety net of available day-to-day benefits that members only pay for if and when they use them.

Yatt explains that flexiFED 1 is designed for the young and healthy, offering hospital cover, screening benefits, GP consultations, dental benefits

and female contraception paid from Risk. To make medical aid more accessible for young people, this plan will only see a CPI increase. flexiFED 2 adds to the benefits provided on flexiFED 1 but in addition caters for young couples planning a baby, with good maternity, infant and childhood benefits.

flexiFED 3 is ideal for growing families with an enhanced maternity benefit and customised childhood benefit. In addition, its chronic benefit covers additional conditions over and above the 27 PMB conditions also known as the Chronic Disease List. flexiFED 4 takes care of mature families with a bigger chronic medicine benefit for additional chronic diseases, a mental health benefit and an oncology benefit.

“Our unique benefits, paid from Risk, provide members on all the flexiFED options with what is essentially a hospital plan on steroids with some dayto-day expenses already included without even having to touch or pay for day-to-day benefits,” he says.

Members can continue to choose their level of hospital cover, saving either 11% or 25% on their monthly contributions with GRID or Elect. From 2022,

MediClinic hospitals will be added to the GRID network.

Elect variants, on the other hand, allow members to save 25% on their monthly contributions by paying a fixed R13,000 co-payment on elective procedures. “These have really come into their own, appealing primarily to a young, healthy market who don’t foresee any elective surgeries but want the security of emergency cover at any private hospital,” explains Yatt.

In terms of day-to-day benefits, Fedhealth has provided two options: first, there’s upfront day-to-day benefits so members know exactly what they will pay each month (fixed). “This is exactly the same as the amount of savings on other schemes,” says Yatt. “However, choosing the second option to control your own dayto-day benefits (flexible) provides members with the full flexibility of the MediVault, giving them control over their monthly medical aid costs given that they only pay back the day-to-day benefits they use over 12 months.”

Conceding that some members find it hard to keep track of fluctuating flexible payments, the scheme sends a statement video and MediVault specific statement each month, and reminds them when their Wallet balances run low.

Fedhealth is the only scheme that allows members to upgrade within 30 days of a lifechanging event such as pregnancy or serious illness.

Another plus in the scheme’s favour is that members with financially dependent children pay child rates up to the age of 27.

Other new benefit enhancements include a cancer benefit which allows members their choice of oncologist from the Independent Clinical Oncology Network or the South African Oncology Consortium; cover for the HPV vaccine for girls between the ages of nine and 14; while the mammogram screening frequency has been moved forward to once every two years, rather than once every three years; and a stress and anxiety benefit, which provides for virtual consultations with a psychologist, has been added to flexiFED 1.

IT IS THE ONLY SCHEME THAT ALLOWS MEMBERS TO UPGRADE WITHIN 30 DAYS OF A LIFECHANGING EVENT, SUCH AS PREGNANCY