Taking a closer look at healthcare funding industry benefits

What you see is not always what you get, as those of us in the healthcare funding industry know all too well. While some of the most attractive-looking medical scheme benefits give the impression of adding value and appeal to an otherwise undeniable grudge purchase, do they really make a meaningful and justifiable difference in the lives of consumers?

The answer lies in how benefits are structured and for whom. Wellness and preventative benefits, for example, promote healthier behaviour, which can have positive long-term health benefits for members while acting as an important sustainability mechanism in the medical schemes environment.

This is already a step in the right direction. However, when such benefits are richly comprehensive across all benefit options and are paid from a scheme’s risk pool, leaving essential cover and savings untouched – that is when client companies and individuals start to truly feel the difference.

To begin with, supporting and strengthening wellness may be more easily achieved by delivering personalised attention with offerings such as a scientific fitness assessment and exercise prescription programme, ensuring that members at every level can benefit from regular interaction and monitoring with a registered biokineticist and an accredited exercise facility, or from home.

Likewise, a nutritional assessment and healthy eating plan in consultation with a registered dietitian will go a long way in supporting members wherever they may be on their wellness journey. Covering such benefits from risk for all members is just a starting point for the scheme that is serious about adding value for clients, over and above the preventative benefits that are essential to empower members to take control of their health.

Family healthcare needs are ever-present and a key driver in healthcare purchases.

Recognising the demand for exceptional kids’ benefits that surpass basic baby wellness and childhood immunisations – with benefits such as unlimited GP visits for children under the age of six, occupational therapy assessments, specialised exercise programmes, and tailored healthy eating plans, to name a few – means that busy parents have a partner in taking family health to greater heights than ever before.

The holistic picture of wellness would not be complete without attention to mental health. Providing healthcare cover that includes an unlimited, round-the-clock psychosocial counselling helpline, as well as several face-to-face sessions when needed, goes a long way in bolstering those members who form part of high-functioning teams, as well as individuals who are taking strain.

By structuring such benefits from risk and offering them to members across the board, access is ensured for clients no matter their option selection; unlike so many offerings on the market where richness and payment structure vary at different levels. Currently, where tangible value and ease of use are top of mind for most people, creating true benefit richness from risk simply makes sense.