5 Best Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers
The 5 Best Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers in South Africa revealed.
We tested them side by side and verified their hospital plans.
This is a complete guide to the best hospital plans for domestic workers in South Africa.
In this in-depth guide you’ll learn:
- What is a Hospital Plan?
- Which hospital plans offer primary care for household employees?
- What is medical insurance for domestic workers?
- What is domestic cover insurance?
- What is domestic care in South Africa?
So if you’re ready to go “all in” with the best hospital plans for domestic workers in South Africa, this guide is for you.
Let’s dive right in…
Best Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers (2024)
| 🩺 Medical Aid | ✔️ Offers Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers? | ⚕️ Plan Offered | 👉 Sign Up |
| 1. Discovery Health | Yes | Discovery KeyCare Plan | 👉 Apply Now |
| 2. Momentum Medical Aid | Yes | Ingwe Student Option | 👉 Apply Now |
| 3. FedHealth | Yes | flexiFED Savvy | 👉 Apply Now |
| 4. Momentum Medical Aid | Yes | Ingwe Student Option | 👉 Apply Now |
| 5. MediHelp | Yes | Boncap Student | 👉 Apply Now |
5 Best Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers Summary
- Discovery Medical Scheme – Overall, Best Hospital Plan for Domestic Workers in South Africa
- Momentum Health – Top Extensive Medical Protection in South Africa
- Fedhealth Medical Scheme – Broadest Range of Low-Cost Medical Aid Plans
- Momentum Medical Scheme – Best Pay-As-You-Go Private Healthcare
- Medihelp Medical Scheme – Best Customer Service Medical Aid
Introduction to Hospital Plans for Domestic Workers
It is not required for companies to provide their staff with medical assistance, but it is frequently included as a benefit in an effort to bolster the allure of a compensation package.
Even private persons who just employ one or two people might want to consider providing their workers with medical aid coverage for themselves and their families. It often begins within the family, when domestic employees are provided with assistance in the form of medical aid payments by their private employer.
The idea that a healthy employee is a more productive and happier worker is one that is held by a significant number of employers. Because of the intimate personal engagement that occurs between the employer and the employee within the home, South Africans want their domestic worker to be in as good of health as they are and to receive the same level of care that they do.
They may opt to donate towards a medical aid for their domestic worker as a manner of expressing their gratitude and offering additional privileges in order to remain a loyal employee.
Given that access to medical care is one of the fundamental human rights, it is prudent for an employer to reward a dedicated worker by providing them with benefits such as medical aid. Regrettably, South Africa’s system of publicly funded healthcare leaves a lot to be desired in its current shape. As a result, the aid of the employer in these kinds of situations can be of tremendous use to the individual in question.
Employers in South Africa may discover that it is more practicable to provide their domestic workers with access to high-quality private health care by providing them with the protection of a medical aid because the country mandates that paid sick leave be provided.
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Benefits of Having a Hospital Plan for Domestic Workers
This might result in fewer days off work due to illness as well as fewer hours spent waiting in lengthy lines at the public hospital or government clinic. And that is not even mentioning the recurrences that happened on various days in different state health institutions.
The unfortunate reality is that people who work in private households are not eligible for any discounts or deals on medical aids. All medical aids, with a few exceptions, provide essentially the same benefits for close to the same cost. The amount of money that an employer is prepared to give towards the cost of medical assistance is something that the employer is responsible for determining.
In a similar manner, they are required to have an in-depth conversation about the matter with their domestic worker in order to determine the extent of the domestic worker’s willingness to pay for medical aid. When faced with a choice like this one, getting assistance from a medical aid broker is always recommended.
It is not obligatory for employers to make a contribution towards the monthly medical aid premiums; nonetheless, many employers do so as an incentive to keep their employees.
It is important for the employer and the domestic worker to have a conversation about whether or not a comprehensive medical aid plan or only a medical aid hospital plan is required. The prices for these two distinct sorts of plans are very different from one another.
Consumers who are not well informed should be wary of hospital cash plans since these plans are NOT medical assistance. All too frequently, individuals will sign up for a hospital cash plan, only to later learn that their particular insurance would not allow them to access private hospital services.
A hospital cash plan is a type of insurance that protects your finances by paying you cash for each day that you spend in the hospital. The vast majority of private hospital groups in South Africa do not believe these plans to be sufficient guarantees when deciding whether or not to admit patients.
Plans that are affordable for domestic workers
There is no way to get around the fact that domestic workers are consistently some of the lowest paid workers around the globe. It is a reality of life given the frequently unskilled labour that is required for these occupations in the face of the multitudes of people who are unemployed and yearning for work of this nature.
Therefore, domestic workers have limited financial resources available to them, and if their employer does not contribute a significant amount towards the monthly premium, medical aid may be completely out of reach for them financially.
There are, on the other hand, more affordable plans available via the majority of medical aid organisations. These plans offer fundamental medical services via certain clinic and hospital groups or doctors who are chosen providers.
These standard, more affordable plans are not exclusive to any one particular medical aid provider. It is perhaps possible that it will provide outpatient benefits in addition to inpatient benefits and benefits for chronic medicine.
However, the medical aid member needs to be aware that in order to receive treatment as a member of one of these more affordable medical insurance plans, he or she cannot simply walk into any doctor’s office and demand it.
Because certain private practitioners do not participate in these less expensive plans, members of medical aid organisations are restricted to seeing only a subset of the available providers, clinics, and hospitals.
It is essential to keep in mind that these less costly medical aid plans could not cover the same comprehensive array of medical services as more expensive medical aid policies. On the other hand, in most cases, it offers at the very least the most fundamental medical services.
POLL: Best Hospital Plans under R200 per month
Choosing an Appropriate Medical Aid for Your Household Employee
No matter what kind of work one does, it is possible to enrol in a medical aid programme, and domestic employees are not exempt from this need. On the other hand, domestic workers in South Africa are some of the lowest paid employees in the country and receiving medical aid coverage may not always be available without a payment from an employer.
The price tag of a medical aid is always something to keep in mind. If an employee is required to cover the entirety of their monthly contribution on their own, the choice of plans may be restricted as a result. Medical aid hospital plans are often more affordable than full medical aid plans that include benefits for treatment received outside of hospitals.
These days, the majority of programmes are beginning to provide medical aid programmes for those with lower incomes. Some of these are planned for the network. These will enable the member to only consult with a physician or go to a clinic that is included in the network of preferred providers that is covered by the medical aid. Although this may be restrictive in some ways, the member will still have access to private healthcare despite these restrictions.
The person who cleans your home for you is more than simply an employee. Many companies view their domestic workers as members of their own families, and as a result, they want to make certain that their employees have access to high-quality medical care. If you are just paying a portion of the total cost of the monthly payments, you will need to choose a different medical aid than if you are covering the whole cost of the contributions yourself.
The majority of programmes strongly recommend to potential members that they do not sign up for a medical aid plan that would cost more than ten percent of their monthly earnings. This is done to guarantee that members do not abandon their medical aid coverage at a later point owing to financial concerns associated with maintaining it.
In today’s world, having medical aid coverage is really necessary; nevertheless, the premiums for this coverage need to be accessible for you.
If medical aid is genuinely out of your price range, you should at the very least think about purchasing a hospital cash back plan to cover your expenses in the event that you become ill or injured and are unable to work. These kinds of insurance policies are NOT medical assistance; rather, they provide a sort of financial protection in the event that you get ill.
On the other hand, these days some of the most affordable medical aid plans have prices that are comparable to those of hospital cash back plans. Because of this, prior to choosing between a medical aid programme and a hospital cash back plan, you need to take into account the specific requirements of your health situation.
Read more about the best hospital plans under R500 per month
1. Discovery Medical Scheme
Discovery has launched a basic private healthcare for employees of households, which will be available through Primary Care for Household Employees, which gives household employees and their dependants access to primary private healthcare benefits from about R249 per month.
Note that Discovery Primary Care for household employees is not a medical aid and does not include hospital cover, employers can choose to add optional emergency hospital cover.
Cover is only available for household employees who work in a private household. This includes cleaners and gardeners, drivers, people who take care of children, the aged, the sick, the frail or the disabled, and domestic workers employed by an employment service.
Discovery’s Primary Care for Household Employees offers a basket of benefits, including:
- Unlimited nurse visits at a pharmacy in the Discovery network;
- Unlimited GP visits when referred by a nurse;
- Two network GP visits each year in the absence of referral by a nurse;
- Cover for medical procedures in a GP’s rooms;
- Cover for acute prescribed medicine on the medicine list;
- One eye test at a network optometrist and one pair of glasses or contact lenses each year;
- Dentist visits, fillings and tooth extraction at a network dentist;
- Cover for an annual flu vaccine at a network pharmacy;
- HIV management;
- One wellness screening each year.
2. Momentum Health
Momentum Health offers three hospital plans suitable for domestic workers. They are the Momentum Ingwe, Momentum Custom and Momentum Incentive plans.
Ingwe offers entry level cover at a list of private hospitals or State hospitals while Momentum Extender offers private hospitalisation.
3. Fedhealth Medical Scheme
Fedhealth option plans suitable for domestic workers include the following:
flexiFED 1
flexiFED 1 is an affordable hospital plan that gives solid medical aid cover at a great price. Get access to Fedhealth Savings powered by the MediVault to help cover unexpected day-to-day medical bills and enjoy a valuable Threshold Benefit that kicks in once claims have reached a certain level. This is a perfect entry-level hospital plan.
4. Momentum Medical Scheme
Momentum Medical Scheme offers the Evolve Option, which gives cover for hospitalisation from the Evolve Network of private hospitals with no overall annual limit.
The Ingwe Option is the most affordable and accessible and covers treatment from any hospital, the Ingwe Network of private hospitals, or State hospitals.
The Custom Option gives comprehensive hospital and chronic cover from any or associated providers. They can choose to have access to treatment at any hospital or save further on their contributions by using a specific list of private hospitals.
5. Medihelp Medical Scheme
Medihelp offers the Medmove option that provides essential cover such as private hospitalisation and emergency medical services through networks. Members also have access to virtual and in-person doctors’ consultations and medicine, as well as a selection of other medical services they may need.
MedVital offers affordable cover for minor medical expenses, private hospitalisation and emergency medical services.
You might also consider reading more about the following options of MediHelp:
- MediHelp HealthPrint
- MediHelp Medprime
- MediHelp MedPrime Elect
- MediHelp MedPlus
- MediHelp MedElite
- MediHelp MedVital
- MediHelp MedSaver
- MediHelp MedMove
- MediHelp MedElect
- MediHelpMedAdd
- MediHelp MedAdd Elect
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it mandatory for domestic workers in South Africa to have a hospital plan?
No, having a hospital plan is not a requirement for domestic employees in South Africa. In the event of crises or medical need, having a hospital plan can offer financial security and access to medical care.
What does a hospital plan for domestic workers typically cover?
Hospitalization charges, surgeries, and other related medical expenses incurred while being admitted to a hospital are often covered by a hospital plan for domestic employees. Additionally, it might cover some outpatient procedures and emergency medical care.
Are pre-existing conditions covered under a hospital plan for domestic workers?
Pre-existing condition coverage may vary based on the particular hospital plan and insurer. Prior to covering pre-existing conditions, certain hospital plans may have waiting periods, while others may contain conditional exclusions.
Can domestic workers choose their preferred hospitals or healthcare providers with a hospital plan?
Depending on the insurer, a hospital plan may offer a different network of hospitals and medical facilities. While some hospital plans may have a preferred network of hospitals and healthcare providers, others may provide more freedom in selecting hospitals and clinics.
How can domestic workers in South Africa find affordable hospital plans?
South African domestic workers have access to a variety of insurance options, allowing them to compare the benefits and prices of their healthcare plans.
