Old Mutual Hospital Plan

What to Look For When Choosing Between Old Mutual’s Hospital Plans

A hospital plan takes you on an affordable monthly premium which would then fully cover you for medical procedures and treatments as an in-house patient in a specific private hospital registered with the hospital. Any doctor or medication visit outside the hospital is for your private account. It is a good idea to compare hospital plans when you are deciding on getting yourself insured. It helps to take note of all the details from the different hospital plans, including the co-payments to be made as well as the treatment procedures to see if the plan suits you. Read on to get all the details.

How does it work? Your hospital plan is either a pre-arranged one which takes full medical aid or an independent one that you have to apply for. In a pre-arranged hospital plan, you are covered for all procedures in the list which is agreed upon by your insurance company and the hospital. Some plans may also include prescribed medicines that are taken care of by the healthcare company and is not to be covered by you. If this is the case, then you will need to buy these medicines from a retail pharmacy that will cost you extra.

Some hospitals offer services that are not covered in the hospital plan. These are known as private hospitals. Most of these are usually in very remote areas where access to medical aid may be impossible. You may apply for an independent plan, which will cover more varied medical aid. Most hospitals, however, tend to follow the medical aid policy which is stipulated by the insurance company.

When looking for private hospitals, you need to find out whether they accept Medicare or Medicaid. If they do accept both, check out for what prescription limit they have and what are the various types of services they offer to include emergency, routine and diagnostic care. Most importantly you need to find out if the hospital accepts the Medicare Part B drug coverage. There are different levels of coverage depending on the plan you have chosen.

What if you cannot afford a private choice for a hospital? What if you need urgent medical attention? You may need to go to a public hospital, but will it be covered in your health insurance policy? Many African countries have free access to health care systems, but if you have to pay for your treatment, it will most likely be covered by your health insurance. Check with your insurance company about their health benefits for citizens of Africa.

Full medical aid plans cover everything in the hospital plan such as the room, the consultation charges, the laboratory fees, X-rays and so on. However, private hospital plans will cover only the cost of the hospital stay up to a maximum of the monthly premium paid per month. Some people pay up to $1000 per month to avail of these facilities. It is good to know whether or not the service you need is covered by the plan you are looking into. Many plans also offer prescription coverage, although it is not available in all hospitals in every country.