Insurance

If you have a heart attack or stroke, or if you suddenly discover that you have a life-threatening illness such as one of the many forms of cancer, it's unlikely that your medical aid scheme will go far enough in providing the extent of critical cover you need at such a time. The same can apply to HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, kidney failure... Dreaded disease cover, critical illness insurance or trauma cover, call it what you will, good critical cover is an essential component of a person's insurance portfolio - ideally providing a lump sum pay-out to ensure you won't be denied access to the best doctors and hospitals, medication and technology.

For the most part, treatment for a critical condition is very costly - think open heart surgery involving a team of doctors and hours of surgery time, for example - and the need to have extra money to meet these expenses is compounded by the loss of income resulting from not being able to work for what might turn out to be an indefinite period of time. Even if you can resume working again, it's quite possible that your lifestyle will have to change and that there will be costs associated with such changes - changes that may last as long as it takes to recuperate or for the remainder of one's life. The implications of all of this can be devastating, running into millions of rand and resulting in financial ruin if there isn't sufficient critical cover.

Comprehensive medical aid, medical insurance, critical illness cover... These benefits are each crucial in themselves and shouldn't be seen as alternatives or substitutes for one another. If you have all of them in place and if the insurance provider you've chosen is a good one, you can then feel confident that you'll receive the best medical attention when you need it most.