Many property owners make the mistake of basing their property’s insurance value on its estimated market value because they confuse the two values. In doing so, their property may be over or under-insured - neither of which is desirable.

Determining replacement value

While an estate agent can determine the value for which your property will likely sell on the open market, an estate agent is not qualified to determine a property’s replacement value. Defined as the value at which your property must be insured to provide sufficient cover, a property’s replacement value can only be assessed by a qualified and experienced professional valuer.It is important to remember that this professional estimation is based on the cost to demolish and reconstruct the building to the same specifications in the case of total destruction, for example, a fire. This cost must cover the cost to demolish and remove rubble, and include all professional fees, such as services offered by architects and engineers. This worst-case scenario is necessary to ensure that you have sufficient insurance cover for any possible eventuality.

Over-insurance

In most circumstances, a property’s replacement value will be lower than its market value. If the owner uses their property’s market value (for example, R2 million) for insurance purposes when the replacement cost is R1.4 million, it would result in that property being over-insured with an unnecessarily inflated insurance premium.  

Under-insurance

A few years ago, we dealt with a case involving a large home located in a remote rural area. Our valuer assessed the replacement cost to be R3.5 million at the time.The remote location meant that the replacement cost would be on the higher end due to the distance from suppliers of building materials and other goods required in reconstructing a building, increasing the overall replacement cost.This particular client had his home ‘valued’ by an estate agent for around R1.5 million and used this value as the property’s replacement cost for insurance purposes. This means that their property was insured for only R1.5 million while it would cost R3.5 million to rebuild in the case of total destruction, resulting in the property effectively being under-insured by R2 million, or by 57%.

The consequence

We have found that an alarming number of property owners are over-insured – often by 50% or more - due to being unaware that they need to obtain insurance cover for their home’s replacement cost and not the market value. You may prefer to rather be over-insured than under-insured, but if you add the unnecessarily increased insurance premium up over a year or two, you have a very prudent reason to get a valuation done to determine an accurate replacement value.Without a clear understanding of the difference between market value and replacement cost, the property owner may face the undesirable reality where the insurer applies an average at claim stage due to the building being under-insured. This means that the owner’s claims will not be paid out 100%, but rather in proportion to the ration of under-insurance, i.e., if the property is under-insured by 50%, the insurer will only pay half of the claimed amount.

Written by Björn Laubscher 

Björn Laubscher is Managing Director of Mirfin Valuation Services which offers professional and comprehensive insurance valuations for community schemes. A pioneering web-based quoting system takes the pain out of getting an insurance valuation quote, saving trustees and managing agents time and providing instant quotations. Visit www.mirfin.co.za

When dusk starts to settle, the Highway Junction Truck Stop at Harrimsith becomes a hive of activity as more than a thousand truck drivers descend here to park overnight, refuel, fill up on essentials, take a shower, socialise with friends and get some much-needed rest from their grueling jobs moving freight along South Africa’s busy highways.

Operating 24-hours a day, seven days a week, the Highway Junction Truck Stop is not only Africa’s largest truck stop, but it is also its busiest. Many truck drivers passing along the N3 corridor make Highway Junction their preferred stopover.

The Highway Junction Truck Stop was started by Ben and Amanda Deysel in May 1998. Since 2015, Highway Junction is proud to have partnered with the Transport Sector Retirement Fund. Its facilities have recently been revamped and expanded to offer three forecourts, convenient and secure overnight parking facilities to our country’s trucking fraternity. “We aim to serve the transport community with quality accommodation-, warehousing-, trucking service centre (workshops)-, refueling-, healthy food-, primary healthcare and recreational facilities,” explained Ben Deysel, CEO of Highway Junction.

“It is the only truck stop of its kind and size on the continent with in excess of 1 500 vehicles passing through this facility daily.” It is for this reason that Hollard Insurance, and their co-sponsor the Transport Sector Retirement Fund, chose the Highway Junction Truck Stop as the ideal venue to promote the annual Hollard Highway Heroes competition to truckers last week. Searching for South Africa’s best truck driver – the Hollard Highway Heroes competition

For the first time since the inception of the competition in 2015, the Hollard Specialist Insurance Company, Hollard Trucking (this year) opened its Highway Heroes competition to all truck drivers in South Africa, affording the Transport Sector Retirement Fund and other partners the opportunity to come on board to recognise trucking excellence.

For the duration of the competition, the driving behaviour of entrants in the competition will be closely monitored by the Hollard Trucking Bureau through the utilisation of fleet tracking technology. Through careful monitoring, a pro-active driver-centric approach is followed to manage risk from speeding to fatigue, harsh braking patterns and other high-risk alarms to ultimately improve driver decision-making and actions.

Hollard and its partners are committed to help the transport sector move towards better futures. In this endeavour, we are convinced that initiatives such as the Hollard Highway Heroes competition will go a long way to encourage skills development and excellence in the industry, which in turn will bring about systemic change and improved safety standards, lowering individual risks and help to make our country’s roads safer for all.

“Every day, on the roads, our members carry the responsibility of not only keeping themselves safe, but to also safely transport the goods entrusted in their care, ensuring their employers’ assets are protected, and their fellow road users are considered. Our truckers keep the country’s economy moving forward and the Hollard Highway Heroes competition helps to recognise the key strategic role they fulfil,” said Mandla Nkosi, member of the TSRF board of trustees who also attended the activation at Highway Junction on Tuesday night.

“The awareness drive at Highway Junction was hugely successful with numerous entries into the competition being received on the night,” confirmed Nkosi. Entries into the Hollard Highway Heroes competition close on 31 May 2019. Thereafter drivers will be monitored until 31 July when the top 50 drivers will be chosen and monitored again for a further 45 days. The winner will be announced on 14 November 2019 and will walk away with R 100 000.00 in prize money.

“Together with the TSRF, we are proud to be associated with the Hollard Highway Heroes initiative to recognise South Africa’s best truck driver,” ended Deysel

The Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority’s (INSETA) pilot project to deliver an ‘Occupational Certificate: Insurance Agent (Insurance Underwriter) was boosted by the inclusion of mentors who supported students through their 12-month studies.

“It has been a successful pilot project, with more than 60 candidates entering the programme. We initially received many more applications but candidates had to qualify in terms of their industry experience, as this is a Level 5 qualification,” explains Nasreen Ravat, Acting Quality Assurance Division Manager, INSETA QA Division.

“One of the highlights of this course was the availability of mentors, both from within the candidate’s own firm and from industry experts. We were very grateful for the time and effort they put into this programme, as for many candidates this was the first time they had studied in many years.

“The mentoring and lecturer input was also valuable, as underwriters tend to stay within a specialised field, such as medical underwriting, and therefore lack the knowledge of long-term insurance requirements. This all-round approach will be continued in the future, though we have found it to be expedient to separate short-term from long-term insurance, as these are disparate fields.”

Heine du Randt of Santam, Dianne Steyn of Brightrock and Duane Hoffeldt of Scor all had two things in common; their praise for the new course and their enthusiasm to mentor again. “The content was good, it was practical and it challenged their thinking,” says du Randt. “I think the course is great and I would absolutely recommend it to underwriters. I notice how our candidates have become passionate ambassadors about the value of the course. ”

Steyn added, “I have been conducting learnerships and mentoring for the last 38 years and I found it easy to mentor candidates on the programme. I found the material good and it met my expectations, as I have been involved in qualifications for the past 14 years. I look forward to mentoring the next course.”

“I was fortunate with my candidate in that she was quite far down the road and did not need so much mentoring,” says Hoffeldt. “However, with a less experienced candidate, I would estimate that a mentor would need to put in 2-3 hours every single day for the first six months, which is why it makes sense that the sponsoring company allocates a mentor for its candidate. The course, though comprehensive, cannot cover everything, which is why a mentor is so essential.”

The qualification prepares candidates to evaluate and interpret information to protect stakeholders’ interests, by using specialist technical knowledge to determine, price, manage and transfer risk. The course can be completed in 12 months but there is a further six months available to allow candidates to complete their Portfolio of Evidence or assignments. Exams are set 18 months after each course begins and successful learners receive a Certificate.

“In the new year, we will again be calling for companies in the financial services industry to put forward their candidates and simultaneously put forward mentors from within applying companies and from industry experts, to increase the success rate,” concludes Ravat.

-- Ends --

INSETA’s purpose is to grow the pool and quality of scarce and critical skills in the insurance sector, enhance the sector and support the country’s transformation with a skilled and capable insurance and related services workforce. The insurance sector has approximately 9 104 employers, employing over 100 000 people, most of whom are skilled and highly skilled employees.

TRAVEL INSURANCE When you picture yourself travelling for business does it look like this: you and your brand new suitcase dashing elegantly through a foreign airport en route to freshen up at your five-star hotel before a successful client meeting? Or like this: you at the airport lost luggage counter, tears streaming down your smudgy cheeks, the reality slowly dawning that you’ll be meeting your most important client in a pair of grubby travel sweats? 

Travel – for business or leisure or both (bleisure?) – can be extremely exciting. But it comes with its own set of risks. According to short-term insurer, Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC), a division of Santam, some of the most claimed for travel events are pre-existing medical expenses, cancellation of journey, luggage loss and travel delays. Being prepared for these risks is critical. 

In a recent panel discussion, three travel industry experts - Monique Swart from African Business Travel Association (ABTA), Albie de Frey from The Travel Doctor and Jason Veitch from Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC) discussed all things travel insurance. 

The experts suggest looking at the following aspects of travel insurance before hopping on that plane.  

1. Credit card – know what it covers

There is a common misperception that your ‘free’ credit card cover will adequately insure you for all risks when travelling. And while it has its advantages, assuming that your credit card cover will pay out is not enough. You need to look into exactly what is covered by the credit card insurance and weigh up whether this is sufficient.  

Veitch says that credit card insurance can be very specific and usually has a range of exclusions. “Typically, it excludes undeclared pre-existing medical conditions, which means that if someone suffering from diabetes has a medical event when they are abroad, they will not be covered. It is vital for anyone with a pre-existing medical condition to be adequately covered when travelling.”  

He said this is but one example of where credit card insurance does fall short. Others include the low level of cover for medical incidences and accidents, no or low luggage cover limits, no cover in the event you need to cancel your entire holiday and cover for sporting activities. 

2. Free travel insurance on your medical aid cover

Free travel insurance attached to your medical aid cover also sounds great, but again it is critical that you look carefully at how it is structured.  De Frey says that some medical aid travel insurance will pay out at South African medical aid rates. “Which may be adequate in some parts of the world, but in countries like the USA or France, where medical costs can be up to 15 or 20 times higher than South African ones, this is not going to be enough. Extra travel insurance can help avert an extremely expensive situation.” 

3. Business trip? Are the ‘bleisure’ days also covered?

Often business trips have a day or two of leisure tacked on to them. Swart says that if the trip has been insured by the company it is important to investigate whether the days of leisure are also covered by the policy for the trip. 

“Often a family member may join you and, in that case, additional insurance will most likely be necessary because they are not a company employee. The onus should be on the travellers to investigate the insurance offered by the employer to ensure that all aspects of the trip are covered for all parties travelling,” she says. 

4. Corporates: know the health of your employees

With medical preconditions excluded by many insurance policies – unless declared – it is vital that employees travelling are open and honest with their employers about any such conditions.  

Veitch says it is vital that corporates not shirk responsibility in this regard. “Employers need to make sure that they have frank conversations about declaring medical preconditions with employees before they travel. If something does happen connected to an undeclared medical condition, it can end up being extremely costly, and it may result in the expenses not being paid by the insurer. Transparency is vital – and so is ensuring an insurance policy that covers the precondition is in place.”   

5. Travelling in high risk areas: make sure kidnapping/ransom and malaria are well covered

“When travelling to high risk areas, the necessity for travel insurance is even more important. In countries where malaria is prevalent, both preventative treatment and extremely good medical cover are vital. In Africa, this is particularly important, as the preventative programs that have previously been implemented in various African countries to reduce malaria have been curtailed, which means incidences of malaria are now increasing at an alarming rate” according to de Frey. 

And some countries in Africa and the Middle East have heightened kidnapping and ransom risks, so cover for these is vital. “And making every attempt to remain trackable via tech when you are in these countries is also a very good idea.”

 Travelling soon? Visit https://www.santam.co.za/products/specialist/travel-insurance/

Simply and SweepSouth, two technology players with a focus on social impact and financial inclusion, have announced a partnership to provide accidental death and disability cover at no cost to all SweepSouth’s SweepStars - its force of domestic cleaners.

The partnership is a win-win. It deepens Simply’s social commitment to provide cover to individuals among lower income groups who currently are underserved, particularly when it comes to life and disability cover. For SweepSouth, the gesture builds loyalty and commitment among the over 7 000 SweepStars it currently has on its books.

The partnership also helps serve a profound need in the domestic worker space. According to the SweepSouth Report on Pay and Living Conditions for Domestic Work released earlier this year, 78% of domestic workers don’t have any form of savings or pension. And with 84% of domestic workers being sole breadwinners, their families face potential catastrophe if anything happens to them.

The SweepSouth concept, which connects households needing cleaning services with independent domestic workers, was born out of frustration at the many structural inefficiencies and lack of progress in terms of pay rates and further upskilling opportunities for workers within the domestic services industry.

“In many ways, this sector had remained unchanged in practice and attitude for decades,” says SweepSouth founder and CEO Aisha Pandor.

“We wanted to provide dignified, flexible work opportunities at decent levels of pay, to domestic cleaners,” she added.

Homeowners and corporate clients book SweepStar services online through the SweepSouth website and mobile app. SweepStars in turn are able to choose where and when they wish to work, earn up to 80% of the booking fee (plus all of the tipped amounts), and through digital literacy learn to unlock the power of devices such as smartphones, which become tools to add income to their families.

“The SweepSouth partnership with Simply extends dignity to the SweepStars and their families by providing accidental death and disability cover at no cost to the cleaner,” Pandor says.

Simply, an insurtech startup providing great value life, disability and funeral cover online, is making waves in the South African insurance industry. The business has sold over 8 000 policies since launch in late 2016, with most of its retail policies sold via mobile.

The initiative with SweepSouth is a good strategic fit for Simply, as serving South Africa’s one million strong domestic worker force is already a key focus for the company. Through their Domestic Cover product, employers of domestic workers can provide low-cost life, disability and family funeral cover for their employees through a convenient online buying process.

Anthony Miller, CEO of Simply, explains: “When a domestic worker dies or becomes disabled through an accident, his or her dependants are often left destitute.  Working with SweepSouth, who share our passion for social impact, we can now extend our benefits to thousands who would otherwise not have had any life or disability cover. And this at no cost to the Sweepstars.”

/ends.

About Simply Financial Services (Simply)

Simply Financial Services (Simply) is a registered financial services provider that designs and sells great value, simple life insurance products in South Africa.  The business was founded by three South Africans – technology entrepreneur Anthony Miller and actuaries Simon Nicholson and Shaun Dippnall – and has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Simply offers 3 products: Family Cover – Cover for individuals; Domestic cover – Cover for domestic workers; and Group Cover – cover for the employees of businesses, NGOs and otherSimply products include life, disability and funeral cover – available individually or as a combo. Policies start from as little as R59 a month, depending on the benefits and level of cover selected, and are really easy to buy online. They are underwritten by Old Mutual Risk Transfer Ltd (OMART), a member of the Old Mutual Group, and reinsured by the Reinsurance Group of America (RGA).

For more information, check Simply out at www.simply.co.za

About SweepSouth

SweepSouth’s mission is to create happy homes by providing dignified, flexible work at decent pay to our SweepStars; and a hassle-free and reliable service that gives time back to our clients. Our SweepStars can dictate where and when they would like to work, earn up to 80% of the booking fee (plus tips), and learn to use technology to unlock the power of a device like a smartphone, so that it becomes a tool that can bring income to their families.

This impact on wider communities is something we are especially proud of, with 74% of our SweepStars being primary breadwinners at home. Of the thousands of SweepStars we’ve already given work opportunities to via our platform, 71% were previously unemployed while 29% were underemployed, evidence of the real impact we’re having on creating employment.

For more information, check SweepSouth out at www.sweepsouth.com

Available in South Africa through local authorized distributors, Plantronics Manager Pro provides enterprises total control and flexibility over their Plantronics audio headsets and devices. Plantronics Manager Pro is a web-based service that gives IT Managers easy-to-use tools to configure settings and update audio device software and firmware for end-users across the enterprise. Last month, Wendy Dawson, Senior Development Marketing Manager for Plantronics, blogged about a professional partnership which represents a collaborative viewpoint of the value of adopting Software-as-a Service (SaaS) solutions such as Manager Pro.

"Today, I’m happy to let you know that Plantronics and Nectar are introducing the industry’s first ear-to-ear (e2e) unified communications (UC) diagnostics solution, extending call visibility past the desktop. Nectar UC Diagnostics troubleshoots network issues contributing to poor UC experiences and along with the actionable insights from Plantronics Manager Pro software-as-a-service (SaaS), can be used to improve your customers’ UC experience.

Nectar and Plantronics are bringing two stellar communications solutions together to provide diagnostics showing call-specific health statistics for wireless headsets. Until now, the last three feet of the UC network has been out of reach to the enterprise IT team. This new solution goes beyond traditional UC diagnostic solutions that end at the desktop and now gives IT the ability to see network health all the way to the end user’s Bluetooth headset.

Using this solution, enterprises and UC service providers can diagnose issues faster than in the past and they can track and make decisions from these actionable insights over time. This means call quality issues—no matter what is causing them—won’t ever get in the way of the ability to deliver superior customer service and user experience before an issue is ever detected.

Many factors can impact the quality of a UC session. The “data-your-way” philosophy built into the Plantronics Manager Pro offering extends Nectar’s capability with e2e diagnostics for Plantronics touch points providing this entirely new level of visibility into the last few feet of connectivity.

Last September, Nectar announced their agreement to develop this e2e diagnostics solution with us. Now, link quality is collected for the Plantronics Voyager UC family of headsets (excluding Voyager Legend, Voyager Edge and Voyager 104). And, it’s officially available for purchase through authorized Nectar and Plantronics authorized partners.

Nectar’s initial release of this solution will support Skype for Business on-premise deployments, with additional UC platform and cloud service support to be added over time."

If you are interested in finding out more about Plantronics Manager Pro for your South African business, please visit www.plantronics.com/za/en/services To read the original blog referenced, visit this page.

About Plantronics
Plantronics is an audio pioneer and a global leader in the communications industry. We create intelligent and adaptive solutions that support our customers’ most important needs: experiencing and facilitating simple and clear communications while enjoying distraction-free environments. Our solutions are used worldwide by consumers and businesses alike and are an optimal choice for open office environments. From Unified Communications and customer service ecosystems, to data analytics and Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers high-quality communications solutions that our customers count on today, while relentlessly innovating on behalf of their future. For more information visit www.plantronics.com/za.

Plantronics is a trademark of Plantronics, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries, Plantronics Hub, Plantronics Manager and Plantronics Manager Pro are trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth trademark is owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics, Inc. is under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

According to Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, more than 6% of working South Africans are employed as Domestic Workers*, and more people are employed in private households than in the mining and agriculture sectors combined. If dependents of these workers are included, then as many as four to five million people are supported by this industry.

However, up until recently there haven’t been many options for the average South African domestic worker to access simple, good value life insurance. There are a number of insurance companies targeting low income customers, but the products are often limited to funeral cover only. Given the financial challenges many domestic workers face, they also often struggle to keep up with payments, so in many cases their cover lapses and isn’t in place when it’s needed.

Insurtech player Simply Financial Services (Simply) has introduced a new life insurance bundle called Domestic Cover which is aimed specifically at employers of domestic employees.  The product, which comprises life, disability and funeral cover, is affordable, easy to understand and strong on accessibility. Its also completely flexible, with the customer able to customise the bundle to suit their needs and budget. The policies are underwritten by Old Mutual Alternative Risk Transfer Limited, an insurer in the Old Mutual group – so customers can be safe in the knowledge that valid claims will be honoured.

“Simply’s aim is to provide easy-to-understand, affordable and accessible life insurance for the mass market in South Africa, and thereby contribute to a significant new level of financial security to people in this segment,” said Anthony Miller, CEO of Simply Financial Services.

“Life tends to be risky and uncertain for domestic workers and their families.  When a breadwinner becomes disabled and possibly even dies, the families are left without significant savings and with large funeral bills to pay.

“If you add societal risks such as taxi accidents and random violence for the workers who often travel large distances to and from work, the level of risk facing this sector becomes apparent,” Miller said.

“The bottom line is that the worker’s dependents are very often consigned to poverty in the event of death or disability,” he said. “Their employers may feel obliged to provide financial assistance in these situations”.

By using technology and an innovative operating model, Simply products are able to deliver great value. For example, a 30-year-old woman earning R4 500 a month gets R100 000 life cover, R150 000 disability cover and R15 000 family funeral cover (which covers the insured person, the spouse and up to five children) for R92 per month.

And by putting the responsibility for paying the premium on the employer, the risk of cover being cancelled due to lack of payment is greatly reduced, meaning the cover will be there when needed. If the domestic worker moves on, they can choose to take over the payment of the premium on the same terms, or they can ask their new employer to take over the policy.

As an alternative Simply also offers a Family Cover product with similar benefits and costs, but where instead the employee takes out the cover and is responsible for paying the premium themselves.

Signing up is simple. The entire online process takes less than ten minutes and requires the individual to fill in some personal details and answer three health-related questions.  Should they qualify, cover is immediate.

For the employers of domestic workers in South Africa, this represents a great opportunity to provide a valuable safety net for their staff, many of whom have been loyal employees for decades, without adding significantly to their costs. 

For more information about Simply, go to www.simply.co.za.

*Source: https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/180831/south-africa-has-more-domestic-workers-in-employment-than-professionals/

South African consumers love the ease of comparing insurance and financial services quotes online, which has been shown in the latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) results based on the survey conducted in 2017. According to the survey, conducted by research organisation Consulta, Hippo.co.za has been ranked as a global leader in customer satisfaction.  

The 2017 survey results for the Short Term Insurance industry were released 29 May 2018. 

The SAcsi is an independent national benchmark of customer satisfaction on the quality of products and services available to household consumers in South Africa. The survey looks at perceived overall quality, complaints, value, loyalty, and expectations while calculating a brand’s overall scoring for customer satisfaction. The survey is conducted by contacting and interviewing customers of companies and users of government services randomly via telephone and email. 

“We are blown away by the positive feedback we have received from customers who have used our online quote platform, especially if you consider how detailed the SAcsi methodology is and how deep it dives into overall customer experience and satisfaction,” says Vera Nagtegaal, executive head of Hippo.co.za. 

“Consulta measured the customer satisfaction of Hippo.co.za customers, parallel to the Short Term Insurance SAcsi,” says Prof. Adré Schreuder, CEO of Consulta. “As a unique value offering in South Africa there is not really direct competitors to compare Hippo.co.za with, but the SAcsi methodology has proven itself to allow comparisons across different industries. Hippo.co.za achieved one of the highest SAcsi scores of all South African companies measured and the results show that the online platform consistently exceeds customer expectations.”

 In the insurance and financial services industry, customer experience and satisfaction is becoming a top consideration for businesses, both globally and locally. In South Africa, regulatory measures such as Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) and Twin Peaks will place further emphasis on the importance of customer satisfaction. TCF is an outcomes-based approached designed to ensure fairness to customers of financial services providers whilst Twin Peaks focuses on consumer protection and market conduct in the financial services industry. The insurance industry is also hugely impacted by digital technologies as more companies are employing online devices such as chatbots and driving behaviour apps in order to personalise the user experience. These digital technologies improve customer experience in terms of easy online quoting and purchasing, and personalised pricing methods based on individual driving behaviour. 

“We have taken both the regulatory measures and technological factors into account and have further strengthened our business through digital innovations and changes that will ensure the customer continues to come first. It is positive to see our efforts being manifested through the SAcsi results. Hippo.co.za was ranked as one of the strongest industry performers, achieving an overall score of 84.3. We also ranked higher than international brands McDonalds and Apple - reaching the 4th spot overall.” “We are proud of this achievement and will make sure we do everything we can to continuously improve our customers’ experience,” says Nagtegaal.

According to recent data by Stats SA, 17% or 9.5 million South Africans belonged to a Medical Aid scheme in 2016. That means over 45 million people were without Medical Aid. The report also shows that although there are various public health facilities that service those without Medical Aid, half of South Africa’s health professionals service the 17% of South Africans who have medical cover.

“There are various factors such as unemployment, economic climate and lack of affordability that impact whether someone can afford membership to a medical scheme or not”, says John October, Chief Executive of online insurance and financial comparison website, Hippo.co.za, “But in many cases, people simply have no choice but to belong to a Medical Aid scheme. Many have to take compulsory schemes through their employers or have the need for specific medical care or treatment that they cannot afford as an out-of-pocket expense.”

So what can consumers do to help minimise Medical Aid costs? Hippo.co.za provides some tips:

• If you need Medical Aid or you are up for renewal on your existing scheme, do not simply consider going with the provider you know. Compare costs and benefits for your specific needs from at least three different providers to ensure that you are not paying too much for the same cover.
• Consider your health requirements for the next twelve months to ensure you will be adequately covered by your Medical Aid. For example, if you are planning on starting a family, ensure that your Medical Aid includes adequate cover for gyneacologist consultations, scans and tests at the time of commencement or renewal. If not, you may be charged more to upgrade at a later stage or have to pay for these costs yourself.
• Should you be at a stage where your children are financially independent and need to be removed from your Medical Aid, consider re-evaluating your overall cover as you may no longer need certain benefits.
• If you have a Medical Aid plan that provides a savings account for out-of-hospital medical expenses such as doctors’ visits and medication, it could get depleted quite quickly. Manage your savings by visiting doctors with lower rates and comparing the cost of medication at the practitioner’s pharmacy with that of a local pharmacy outlet to determine the lowest cost.

“As October is the month where you can start reviewing your Medical Aid before renewal, now is a good time to consider your options and shop around for the best possible rates from a range of South African Medical Aid providers,” concludes October.

Established in 2007, Hippo.co.za is South Africa’s leading comparison website that helps consumers save money by comparing a range of South African providers across financial products such as Car Insurance, Household Insurance, Life Insurance, Medical Aid and more. Hippo.co.za is free to use and saves consumers the time and hassle of shopping around for the best deal since the Hippo.co.za website instantly retrieves real-time quotes from the different providers using the latest Internet technology. You could save hundreds of Rands per month* on your Car Insurance alone by using Hippo.co.za to compare before you buy or switch to a new provider.

Hippo.co.za makes money by simply charging its partners a fee when a customer chooses to find out more about their products. The results consumers see, and the order in which they are presented, are in no way influenced by the fee Hippo.co.za charges its partners or any other factors other than the price of the product being compared.

For more information, visit us on www.hippo.co.za, connect with Hippo.co.za on LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/company/hippo-comparative-services-pty-ltd/, like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/HippoSA, and follow us on Twitter, @Hippo_co_za and YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/user/hippocompare.

Hippo Comparative Services (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider (FSP number: 16357).

Terms and Conditions apply.

*Based on 2017 independent market research conducted by Kaufman Levin Associates.

Five million insurance policies are being handled and managed through leading policy management solution EasiPol. Hitting the mark this week, RubiBlue, the business behind the solution has seen the number of providers signing up to use its solution to successfully capture payments and manage policies rocket in recent years as the sector closes in on fraudulent activity. 

African funerals are large-scale, often expensive events that families share with the community. So, more than half of South Africans have some kind of funeral plan, and is one reason why EasiPol has proven popular with consumers and insurers.

“Families want peace of mind that their investment is secure and their funeral is taken care of," remarks RubiBlue MD, Chris Ogden. “EasiPol is a solution that improves customer loyalty and service, and looks after the insurer to prevent fraud and theft, and knowledge that data is safe, secure and policies are managed in-line with industry regulations." 

With over 10 million adults now funeral policy holders in South Africa and cash being king for most, it’s even more vital that payments are electronically recorded to prevent monies going ‘missing’. If a cash payment is made, but if the collector ‘misplaces’ an installment it can mean the client isn’t paid out on their policy when the time comes, even though they have remained up to date with payments. “Death is a terrible time for anyone, even without the burden of paying for a funeral,” adds Ogden.

“For insurance companies to be able to offer better customer service and peace of mind to customers improves their reputation, cash-flow and profitability which makes shareholders happy too!” EasiPol is a solution which can be tailored to suit any business and industry where monies need to be collected. The creators understand that every business is different: processes need to be adhered to and regulations followed to remain compliant with governing bodies. Working with over 750 insurance providers in Southern Africa, EasiPol is the leading policy management software.