Hospital plan for pensioner

[AntennaMan]

My wife's grandmother is 79 and has no medical aid. This usually isn't a big problem since her physical health is quite good, with high blood pressure being the biggest problem in that regard. However, she does suffer from Alzheimer's', which makes it very difficult to find the source of the problems, since she doesn't know herself, and it also makes it difficult to deal with her.

The problem is that this past week she got really sick and had to be booked into hospital, which meant a state hospital. Now first thing, the "nurses" in the admissions ward is atrocious. They know nothing about their jobs, they don't even know what Alzheimer's is, and obviously they themselves suffer from the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The internal medicine ward is slightly better, but not by much.

So now I want to know if anyone has had to take out a hospital plan for a pensioner? With which medical aid and how much does it cost?

We just want something so that we can get her into a private hospital the next time something happens. At least there is usually some form of accountability at the private hospitals.

 

[I.am.Sam]

best to call few places cause im sure they have a cap on the age limit of who can get cover

if you do get cover it will be ridiculously expensive

and there is waiting periods and stuff

 

[Roo!]

All medical aids will charge you a late-joiner penalty on top of their standard plan pricing (this penalty only applies to the hospital portion of any medical aid). Basically this penalty is worked out with the use of the years of non-cover the potential member has had. I believe the max is 75% penalty. My mother was without a MA for 15 years and I get charged 50% more for the penalty, i.e. 150% of the listed price, for as long as the policy is in place (it never goes away).

Just check their websites and calculate the penalty:

0 - 4 years uncovered: 5% of total contribution;
5 - 14 years uncovered: 25% of total contribution;
15 - 24 years uncovered: 50% of total contribution; and
25 years or more uncovered: 75% of total contribution.