Today’s demands on the standard of living of people, soaring costs and careers on the line as a result of economic and other difficulties, are all excellent reasons to keep a vigilant watch how best to manage available funds and how to counter possible financial adversity. Hospital plan Clientele is but one such option.
Being cash strapped, as a norm, 25 years back was not that typical for the average South African home. Nowadays, it is estimated that around 60% of all South African households – clerks to executives – really are in some financial trouble. This means 6 out of every ten of your co-workers at work or your mates experience anxiety due to debt overload. Whereas Europeans spend on average some 18% of their earnings on servicing debt, South Africans ‘proudly’ spend some 70% of their income on servicing debt. These are intimidating numbers to say the least and where folks are self-employed or the wife or husband has to work as well to keep the pot boiling, the situation is even worse.
In many instances where people have lost their jobs due to retrenchments, or other reasons, they are forced to seek self employment opportunities. While on the one hand this might be good, it conversely brings some financial uncertainty. How are you affected if you can’t work on account of illness? You are no longer shielded by an employer offering sick leave advantages; therefore, you are up against a scenario of no money for the duration of your illness. Even if you could afford medical aid in these instances, you are still destined to be out of pocket for the period you are out of work due to sickness. Thankfully the market offers a product such as hospital plan Clientele.
Hospital plan clientele is not a medical aid scheme, but an insurance product offering you the benefit of a fixed amount per day, payable, on your spending time in the hospital. The daily amount payable varies from R1000 to R5000 depending on the option chosen. The value of the daily amount is dependent on the premium payable by the purchaser and payment will begin only after the third day in hospital. If you are self reliant on your income then this could bring a welcome relief to you and your family in the event of your being hospitalised and unable to earn income. Payments are made free of income tax since it is an insurance plan pay out and you may use the funds in any way you see fit. It isn’t mandatory that you spend such pay out on medical bills per se.
Hospital plan Clientele is a way of taking care of possible financial hardship due to medical issues, and you having to spend some time in hospital as a result. Such a protection plan can be entered into by anyone
