Bonitas Member Magazine Issue 4. 2019 | Page 11

2020 Changes and enhancements The past 18 months have been challenging for the private healthcare sector. The industry and consumers have been severely burdened by the weak economic climate and Bonitas was not spared. Despite this, we have made great strides in ensuring that our offerings for 2020 will go a long way towards addressing the challenges faced by consumers. BonCap Income-based options require income cross subsidisation and affordability to remain sustainable. The medical schemes industry has been severely challenged in this regard. Despite this, we firmly believe that the BonCap option will improve the accessibility and affordability of healthcare. For this reason, we’ve broadened the income bands on the option to appeal to a wider population. BonEssential, BonEssential Select and Hospital Standard For 2020, these will be: • R0 to R8 520 • R8 521 to R13 840 • R13 841 to R18 900 • R18 901 + To ensure the sustainability of BonCap, we intensified our risk management measures to ensure compliance to applicable networks. As a result, the co-payment for the use of non-network hospitals or late pre-authorisation will be R10 000, to improve the uptake of network hospital use. In addition, in-hospital cover for auxiliary care will be for PMBs only. The introduction of BonEssential Select and the amendments made to our hospital plans in 2019, have allowed Bonitas to be more aggressive in this market sector. We are actively targetting a younger, healthier profile member who requires hospital cover. Members have the choice of access to all hospitals through BonEssential or an approximate 15% reduction in contributions through BonEssential Select. To sustain the growth experienced over the past nine months, we have enhanced the specialised radiology benefit on BonEssential and BonEssential Select to pay for specialised radiology – not only in- hospital but out-of-hospital as well. We have also repositioned this option to be the ideal choice for groups. Our underwriting protocols have been adjusted to contribute favourably towards growth and address the current risks of this option. Auxiliary benefits will be limited to PMB care only on Hospital Standard, BonEssential and BonEssential Select to ensure members get the cover they need. Page 10