New medical scheme for casuals

The company is wading into a sector where established rivals already have a large customer base and are offering a menu of benefits including loyalty programmes linked to healthy lifestyles to retain customers.

On Monday, 11 June 2012, the MD of OnePlan, Michael Otten, said he was providing a "no frills" approach to medical insurance in the same way Capitec Bank has upended the domestic banking market through its simplified approach to transactional banking.

Otten said OnePlan had also devised its Onecard transactional card which the client uses to pay a medical service provider. The company had about 34000 lives covered and planned to expand market penetration, he said without giving details.

Otten said medical insurance industry titans such as Discovery were not a threat because his company's model of providing cover was not based on an individual's monthly income but on what they could afford.

Monthly contribution rates started as low as R100, rising to R750, and a client could choose to stop contributing depending on their circumstances.

There was even a "payment holiday" where a customer could choose not to pay for a few months until their finances improved, even though they would not be covered during this period.

Otten said he saw the product as complementing the government's proposed National Health Insurance scheme. He agreed that the cyclical income of seasonal or contract workers was a problem which his company had factored into its business plan to ensure that lapse rates were within acceptable limits.

Source: Business Day