# returning to South Africa



## liverpool101 (Mar 12, 2009)

Can anyone give me good advice on moving to SA; I live in Canada, am SA born and seeking dual citizenship. My question is about Health care...once I move there as returning SA citizen am I eligible for the National Health Care Plan? 
Any other info anyone can provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks,


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## HereForNow (Dec 27, 2008)

liverpool101 said:


> Can anyone give me good advice on moving to SA; I live in Canada, am SA born and seeking dual citizenship. My question is about Health care...once I move there as returning SA citizen am I eligible for the National Health Care Plan?
> Any other info anyone can provide would be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,


Health insurance here is very comprehensive, and if you are self-employed, you may be able to claim health expenses off tax. Seeing a doctor is about $25 anyway, so not a fortune. The government hospitals are just as bad as in the UK, where I come from, but they are there as a fall-back should you have an accident and be uninsured.


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## HereForNow (Dec 27, 2008)

One more thing. Before you get here, take out travel insurance to cover you for the first few months when you arrive. This is dirt cheap (eg from Expedia.com). When you get here, applying for health insurance is in person and by phone, so it will take a little while. Internet is very limited here due to extortionate costs, so firms generally are not very web or email savvy.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

HereForNow said:


> Health insurance here is very comprehensive, and if you are self-employed, you may be able to claim health expenses off tax. Seeing a doctor is about $25 anyway, so not a fortune. The government hospitals are just as bad as in the UK, where I come from, but they are there as a fall-back should you have an accident and be uninsured.


This is NOT correct - Government hospitals in SA are a 100 times worse than those in the UK. (please do not use your personal experience in isolation).

Comprehensive health cover in SA is VERY expensive when one compares it to a % of earnings.

Please give accurate info.


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## HereForNow (Dec 27, 2008)

Halo said:


> This is NOT correct - Government hospitals in SA are a 100 times worse than those in the UK. (please do not use your personal experience in isolation).
> 
> Comprehensive health cover in SA is VERY expensive when one compares it to a % of earnings.
> 
> Please give accurate info.


Hi Halo,

I have been a complementary therapist since 1999. I started in the UK and came here June/July 2008. I work alongside my clients' doctors. Whilst no health system is perfect, appearances can be deceptive on either side. There is good and bad everywhere, and I speak from client experience. I have no personal experience of the South African government health system, only the feedback I get from others.

I have just applied for health cover in SA. It is a mere fraction of what I would have paid in the UK. However, most people I know here pay even less. Having at one point sold health insurance in the UK, I should think I am qualified to speak about this too. 

South African health care is far from perfect. Every week I am horrified at what passes through my clients' doctors here totally undiagnosed and untreated. 

Perhaps if you combine our posts, one can conclude what a friend of mine says:

"The grass on the other side is not greener, it's just a different shade of s**t"


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## Daxk (Jan 20, 2008)

Here for Now, I have never been to a Govt Hospital in the Cape so cannot comment.
My experience has been that the teaching Hospitals tend to be better, So that would make Groote Schuur, the old HF Verwoerd (called something else now for obvious reasons), Baragwaneth ,Medunsa and possibly the Jhbg Gen better than other Hospitals purely as your Proffessors also practice there.
Having personally visited the Helen Joseph ,the Edenvale Hospital and the Thembisa one,
(Google them) 
They are a disgrace!to the Nursing proffession.
As for Medical Aid (Health Insurance) when you are middle aged or better or have kids, you will find that the top of the range,most expensive Plan will have run out long before the year is up.
Halo is correct ,as a percentage of income, SA Medical Aids are expensive.


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## yfbarnes (Mar 27, 2009)

Hi, 
Indeed the medical aids is expensive in comparison to level of income and costs of living here.

Cape Town, however, is a very beautiful city.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

yfbarnes said:


> Hi,
> Indeed the medical aids is expensive in comparison to level of income and costs of living here.
> 
> Cape Town, however, is a very beautiful city.


The beauty is only skin deep.


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## taramaria (Mar 10, 2009)

Hi all,

I work in the medical industry in Johannesburg and am continually horrified at the LACK of decent healthcare provided in these institutions. Only yesterday I was in theatre at Baragwanath and the place is a living nightmare. Not to slag a dead horse but, liverpool101, I would definitely advise getting health insurance should you move back to SA. Doctors fees are not very expensive but medication and hospital fees can be, so I don't believe it's worth the risk of not getting covered. 
Also, the medical aids offer a wide variety of plans but the cheaper ones are often insufficient should you require a hospital stay or an operation etc. Not to say the more expensive the cover, the better it is but you should maybe look at a middle of the range option rather than the cheapest.

 Best of luck.


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## Brigham7 (Dec 20, 2008)

Health insurance here is very comprehensive, and if you are self-employed, you may be able to claim health expenses off tax. Seeing a doctor is about $25 anyway, so not a fortune. The government hospitals are just as bad as in the UK, whereI come from, but they are there as a fall-back should you have an accident and be uninsured.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

Brigham7;124777The government hospitals are just as bad as in the UK said:


> Next time you visit Groote Schuur Hospital let me know. I'm sorry but while some UK hospitals are not up to European standards comparing them to SA public hospitals is just not cricket.
> 
> Please list the amount of people you know that have ever used these hospitals in SA compared to the people you know in the UK that use the public system.
> 
> SA is a country of two halves........


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