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In part seventeen of this series we looked at the Essential Delta Saver plan. We’re now down to the last option on the Saver range – the Coastal Saver. This plan is especially important for those of us living on the coast.
The difference between the other Saver plans and the Coastal Saver plan
- This plan – like the Essential and Essential Delta Saver – offers 100% of the DHR for in-hospital treatment by medical professionals.
- The difference with this option is that 20% of your contribution goes towards your day-to-day expenses versus the Essential plans where only 15% is used in the calculation.
- Another major difference is the choice of hospital. You must use a selected hospital in the four coastal provinces. Using a hospital anywhere else will result in Discovery Health only covering 70% of the cost. And not all coastal hospitals fall into the approved category, so always call Discovery Health beforehand to check.
The problem with Coastal plans in 2017
According to Discovery Health:
- Demographic changes (I assume more people deciding to live in the coastal provinces), along with
- the creation of more hospitals in these provinces
- has resulted in more people making use of said hospitals
This has led to Discovery Health expenses increasing by 23% more on the Coastal plans than on all the other plans combined. To combat this Discovery Health was forced to increase costs on the Coastal plans by 5%.
You’d be inclined to argue the point with me on the Coastal Saver plan which has only had a 7, 8% price increase compared to the 9, 9% on the rest of the Saver plans.
But go look at the amount going towards day-to-day expenses.
In 2016 the Coastal Saver looked something like this:
- Monthly contribution for a single member – R1, 862 monthly
- Day-to-day savings available – R5, 580
In 2017 things look a little different:
- Monthly contribution for a single member – R2, 007 monthly
- Day-to-day savings available – R4, 812
In 2017 you’re paying more for less.
Let’s start off with the cost:
- Main member – R2, 007 monthly
- Adult dependants – R1, 506 per adult
- Children – R808 per child (A maximum of three children are charged for)
This gives us the following MSA for the year:
- Main member – R4, 812
- Adult dependants – R3, 612 per adult
- Children – R1, 932 per child (A maximum of three children are used in this calculation)
Word of warning:
Think of it as a line of credit. If you join halfway through the year, then you get half the amount. If you decide to leave Discovery Health halfway through the year – and in between you’ve used up all of your MSA – then you’ll have to pay back half of the MSA allocated to you.
Here’s how the cost compares to Essential Saver:
| Essential Saver | Coastal Saver | Difference | |
| Main member | R2, 047 | R2, 007 | R40 |
| MSA | R3, 684 | R4, 812 | R1, 128 |
You can find our Discovery Health 2017 pillar articles by clicking on the links below:
- Part one – ***Discovery Health in a nutshell***
- Part two – ***Where does KeyCare fit in?***
- Part three – ***The Executive plan***
- Part four – ***The Comprehensive range***
- Part ten – ***The Priority range***
- Part Thirteen – ***The Saver range***
If you’d like to drill down in more detail, here are the links to each and every plan:
- Part five – The Classic Comprehensive plan
- Part six – The Classic Delta Comprehensive plan
- Part seven – The Classic Comprehensive Zero MSA plan
- Part eight – The Essential Comprehensive plan
- Part nine – The Essential Delta Comprehensive plan
- Part eleven – The Classic Priority plan
- Part twelve – The Essential Priority plan
- Part fourteen – The Classic Saver plan
- Part fifteen – The Classic Delta Saver plan
- Part sixteen – The Essential plan
- Part seventeen – The Essential Delta Saver plan
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Until next time.
The InsuranceFundi Team
