Discovery Health clients should take note of the recent announcements with regards to premium increases and benefit changes for 2013.
Headline Increase for 2013
Discovery has announced that their headline increase for next year (2013) will be 10.9%, with increases ranging from 9.8% to 11.8% depending on which plan you belong to.
Consumers who follow the business media may be confused by these figures, considering that Discovery promised to keep its increases at inflation (CPI) plus 3%. The announced increases indicate that an extra 2% has been added, most likely due to solvency requirements.
Discovery Health has seen its membership grow faster than many of its competitors over the last few years. While this is a positive sign for the company, South African law requires that health insurers keep 25% of premiums in reserve. For this reason, the company has budgeted its solvency requirements into the headline increase in premiums for 2013.
New Developments in 2013
Discovery clients can expect several exciting new changes to the structure of their plans in 2013, including the following benefits:
- Smartphone Apps
- An electronic membership card
- The ability to access your healthcare records electronically using your Health ID
- Submitting claims for payment by taking a photo of the doctor’s account with your phone
- By taking a photo of your script, you can send it to MedExpress and your medication will be delivered.
- The ability to request documents and track claims using your smartphone.
- VitalityMobile for CellC Customers
- VitalityMobile is a Vitality community to be launched by Discovery and CellC
- Calls between VitalityMobile members on CellC will be free of charge
- Members will receive a 50% boost on data
- Members will pay only 99c a minute on international calls
- Woolworths as a HealthyFood Partner
- Woolworths will be added as a HealthyFood partner on all Classic and Executive plans.
If you are considering a change in your Discovery Health plan, now is the time to decide as you will need to choose your plan for 2013 in November 2012.