SA prepaid medical aid company grows

Namibia too has a high number of individuals without medical cover who fork out thousands of dollars for private healthcare.

Both Namibia and South Africa”;s public healthcare systems are strained.

State-run hospitals and clinics are ill-equipped – lacking staff and equipment – to deal with the rising demand for healthcare.

Long queues, delays, overcrowding, and limited services are just some of the factors which push those with the financial means away from public health facilities and towards private hospitals.

But private healthcare is expensive, and only 16% of the South African population is covered by a medical aid scheme, according to Stats SA.

In Namibia, only 17% of is population is covered by medical aid.

That puts the overwhelming majority of the two countries at the mercy of overburdened public facilities, with many wanting, but unble to afford, private treatment.

But there is an alternative to medical aid schemes which still affords the patient private care in times of need.

Money saved on a prepaid medical card and used to pay healthcare providers is described as a “true self-insurance product”.

It also clears much of the red tape and limitations associated with traditional health insurance products and even the crop of new medical aid plans, which makes it an attractive option for low-income households.

“Medical aid is outside of their affordability [but] we know that most people aspire to get the best medical care, which in South African terms is in the private health sector,” Tami Ngalo, the founder of Oyi medical card, told Business Insider SA.

“Cash flow and liquidity is a problem in this segment. We know that around the 10th of the month, generally, people don”;t have any money left in their pockets. Now, let”;s say, around the 15th of the month, you”;ve got this [medical] need, and you don”;t have money.”

Ngalo”;s answer to this liquidity challenge is Oyi, a medical card that affords users a dedicated space for medical savings.

This prepaid solution follows the immensely popular stokvel model, where money is effectively ring-fenced for specific use. Once the money is saved to the Oyi card, it cannot be withdrawn as cash and can only be used to pay for medical expenses, like treatment by a doctor or for medication from a pharmacy.

Oyi, a Mastercard debit card accepted by all healthcare providers in South Africa can be used to pay for the treatment of any family member or dependants and does not only cover nominated members like medical aid schemes do.

Ngalo told Business Insider SA that the average Oyi card holder is a South African 35-year-old single mother of two living in the township.

The inspiration for Oyi came from Ngalo”;s experience with the National Health Service while living in the United Kingdom and working for an information technology company.

Ngalo, who built a successful career in software engineering within the banking sector, returned to South Africa in 2017 and started to work on the solution which would eventually become Oyi.

After first using a credit model, Ngalo says users urged him to introduce a prepaid option instead.

Since launching, Oyi”;s user base has grown to more than 70 000.

– Additional reporting by Lazarus Amukeshe

– Business Insider SA

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