# Advice regarding medical aid



## SdeB (Nov 29, 2010)

Some of you may have seen my earlier query regarding eligibility of ex-pats to relocate to the UK and avail themselves of benefits.

To cut a very long story short, my in-laws reisde in Jo'burg and moved to SA 40 years ago. They have lived beyond their means all of their lives and made virtually no provision for their retirement, what little money they did have ran out some time ago. Some how, they ended up in a situation where they had the maximum mortgage allowed when they were in their 60s so even the property which they had gave them very little capital to live off and that's now gone.

They currently live with my sister-in-law and husband who are themselves in somewhat of a precarious financial situation and my brother-in-law who is 55 maintains that he only has 5 years working life left, so they need to worry about their retirement and how they will fund that.

We have helped off and on over the years, however, it is not sustainable in any way for us as we have our own children and ongoing financial commitments. Whilst my in-laws are 75 and 78, it is possible for them to live for another 20 years and my sister-in-law is now chuntering on about how we will need to help finance residential care if and when the time comes, which with the best will in the world, we can in no way do.

One of the ongoing problems is the increased costs in medical aid which is currently around 3,000 Rand per month and increasing to 4,000 next year. This gives them very limited cover and only a finite number of hospital and doctor's visits plus limited prescription drugs etc. They ran out of their allowance of medical care in March of this year for the current year, so my sister-in-law has had to pay for all the subsequent care they have needed since, which includes a shoulder operation that my mother-in-law had. She needs further surgery on her back but they're waiting until January 2011 when the next year's cover commences.

We are trying to get them to move back to the UK, which would also cost us a lot to set them up, however, in the longer term it would cheaper all round, with the NHS, state pension, pension credits, social housing, winter fuel allowance, free TV licence, free bus passes, council tax paid for etc etc.

They are resisting, according to my sister-in-law who is gate-keeping for them as she is of the firm belief that they should not be told about the difficulties we're all having in keeping them out there, which is where they want to spend their remaining years.

My sister-in-law claims to have found some new medical aid plan which is fully comp and gives them unlimited access to medical treatments etc, provided that they use a pre-approved practitioner from their register.

Call me a cynic but here in the UK, it would be virtually impossible to get a fully comp package like that for a couple in their mid-late 70s, one of whom has had a triple heart bypass op 15 years ago and is an ex-smoker until that point, and the other who is a smoker, has back problems and a whole host of other medical conditions, such a high cholesterol, high blood pressure etc etc. Even if they could get such a package, in most cases, pre-existing conditions are not covered and the premiums would be exhorbitant.

Does anyone know of such a too good to be true medical aid package? We can't get to speak to her and have bombarded her with emails, none of which she is responding to. My gut instinct is that she hasn't actually submitted their information or been given a quote and is basing her information on some ad that she's seen somewhere which markets it as 'Fully comp cover from 5,000 Rand per month' or some such. The bottom line is that they're all dragging their feet about relocating back to the UK but ultimately we cannot afford to keep them out there.

Thanking you in advance.

S de B


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