
The Executive Plan offers you the most extensive cover for in-hospital and day-to-day healthcare expenses
You have access to additional benefits
- Cover of up to R1 000 each day in a private ward
- Cover for innovative medical technologies and expensive medicines with the Specialised Medicine and Technology Benefit, including cover for evidence-based treatment not available in South Africa up to a limit and with a co-payment
- Emergency response services nationwide with Discovery 911
- Cover for up to 90 days for medical emergencies when you travel overseas, up to R10 million for each person
- Evacuation benefits for medical emergencies when travelling or working in Africa through the Africa Benefit
- The Insured Network Benefit ensures that you are always covered for consultations at a GP in our network and blood tests at our network providers, without any gaps.
Your cover in hospital
We cover you in any private hospital for emergency and planned hospital admissions that you have authorised with us.
Whether you need to be hospitalised for a planned hospital procedure or need emergency cover, the Executive Plan offers cover in a private hospital with no overall limit. You also have private ward cover.
Private ward cover
You have cover of up to R1 000 each day in a private ward for any approved admission.
Emergency cover when you need it most
In an emergency, go straight to hospital but call us or get someone to call us within 12 hours.
If you need medically-equipped transport in a medical emergency, call 0860 999 911. This line is managed by highly qualified emergency personnel who will send the most appropriate air or road emergency evacuation transport.
Cover for planned hospital admissions
Please call us 48 hours before you go to hospital to confirm your admission.
No overall limit
There is no overall hospital limit on the Executive Plan. Limits, clinical guidelines and policies apply to some healthcare services and procedures.
Your cover for your admitting doctor and other related accounts
A related account is the account for your admitting doctor, anaesthetist and any approved expense you incur during your hospital admission, other than the hospital account.
We pay your admitting doctor, anaesthetist and other related accounts from the Medical Savings Account. Once you reach your Annual Threshold, we pay these accounts from the Above Threshold Benefit.
The Executive Plan provides cover up to 300% of the Discovery Health Rate for specialists. We have also negotiated with the majority of specialists to guarantee that when you use a specialist in our direct payment arrangements we pay them directly at our agreed rate. This means that when consulting a specialist in our direct payment arrangements you will be covered in full.
Full cover for specialists participating in our payment arrangements
You can benefit by using healthcare professionals participating in our direct payment arrangements because we will cover their approved procedures in full.
You may have a co-payment if you use other specialists
If you are treated in hospital by a specialist who does not participate in one of our payment arrangements, we cover you
up to 300% of the Discovery Health Rate.
Other healthcare professionals
We cover GPs, radiology, pathology and other healthcare services up to 100% of the Discovery Health Rate.
Your cover for investigations
Scopes (gastroscopies, colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies and proctoscopies) and MRI or CT scans
We pay the hospital account from your Hospital Benefit and all related accounts from the Medical Savings Account or Above Threshold Benefit if performed during an approved admission. We pay up to 300% of the Discovery Health Rate for specialists and up to 100% of the Discovery Health Rate for other healthcare services, including radiology.
Unlimited healthcare services
Most of your in-hospital healthcare services have no overall limit. These include:
- GPs
- Specialists
- Allied healthcare professionals, for example
physiotherapists - Blood tests and x-rays
- HIV cover if you are registered on the HIVCare Programme
Limited healthcare services
Only the following healthcare services have a limit:
| Dentistry* | There is an overall limit of R26 000 for each person. We pay the hospital account from the Hospital Benefit. We pay all related accounts from the Medical Savings Account or Above Threshold Benefit. |
| Cochlear implants, auditory brain implants and processors | R126 000 for each person for each benefit |
| Internal nerve stimulators | R96 000 for each person |
| Hip and knee joint prostheses | There is no overall limit if you get your prosthesis from our preferred suppliers. If you choose not to, a limit of R31 500 will apply to each prosthesis. |
| Prosthetic devices used in spinal surgery | R20 000 for each level, limited to two levels for each procedure, and one procedure for each person each year |
| Mental health benefit | 21 days for each person |
| Alcohol and drug rehabilitation | 21 days for each person |
| Terminal care benefit | R23 400 for each person |
* This limit applies to the hospital account and all accounts related to the admission to hospital. A related account is the account for your
admitting doctor, anaesthetist and any approved expense you incur during your hospital admission, other than the hospital account.
We pro-rate this benefi t according to when you join the medical scheme.
DiscoveryCare looks after you in times of need
The Chronic Illness Benefit offers you flexible cover for chronic conditions – you always have the option of full cover through our medicine list or the choice of using any medicine up to a set monthly amount.
Your cover for chronic conditions
You have extensive and flexible cover for a list of chronic conditions. You have full cover for approved medicine on Discovery Health’s medicine list or up to a set monthly amount for medicine not on our list.
The medicine list for the Executive Plan has more medicines on it than other plans. If you choose to use medicines that are not on the medicine list, you also have a higher amount available to you than on other plans.
We pay medicine up to a maximum of the Discovery Health Medication Rate. We need to approve your chronic condition
before it is covered from the Chronic Illness Benefit.
The Specialised Medicine and Technology Benefit covers the latest treatments, medicines and technologies.
Your cover for medical technology and expensive medicine
You have additional cover for a defined list of the latest treatments through the Specialised Medicine and Technology Benefit, up to R200 000 for each person. Please call us to see whether your treatment qualifies.
This benefit includes access to the Overseas Treatment Benefit where you are covered when you travel overseas to seek evidence-based healthcare not available in South Africa at a registered healthcare professional, up to a limit of R500 000 for each person. You will need to pay and claim back from us when you return to South Africa.
Entry criteria and a co-payment of up to 20% applies to both benefits.
DiscoveryCare’s Oncology Programme covers you for cancer treatment.
Your cover for cancer treatment
DiscoveryCare’s Oncology Programme covers the fi rst R400 000 of your approved cancer treatment over a 12-month cycle, in full, after which a 20% co-payment will apply, without any overall limits.
Radiology and pathology approved for your cancer treatment is also covered. Cancer treatment that falls within the Prescribed Minimum Benefits is always covered in full, with no co-payment. Please call us to register on the Oncology Programme.
Your cover for day-to-day medical expenses
The Medical Savings Account puts you in control of your day-to-day medical expenses. Any unused money is carried over to the following year.
We pay for your day-to-day medical expenses like GP visits, x-rays and blood tests from your Medical Savings Account, at the cost incurred, as long as you have money available. You may need to pay for your day-to-day medical expenses if you have run out of money in your Medical Savings Account before your claims add up to the Annual Threshold. Once your claims add up to the Annual Threshold, we pay the rest of your claims from the Above Threshold Benefit.
Early detection and prevention of diseases is vital to your wellbeing. The Screening and Prevention Benefit pays for a range of healthcare services that help to prevent and screen for diseases that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Extending your day-to-day cover
Discovery Health pays claims for some day-to-day expenses to make the money in your Medical Savings Account
last longer:
- The Screening and Prevention Benefi t covers a range of healthcare services, including the following tests at a Discovery Wellness Network provider: blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index. The benefit also covers a mammogram, Pap smear, PSA and HIV screening tests. Members from the age of 65 and members registered for certain chronic conditions are also covered for a seasonal fl u vaccine from this benefit.
- We will cover out-of-hospital claims for your recovery after certain traumatic events from the Trauma Recovery Extender Benefit. The cover applies for the rest of the year in which the trauma takes place, as well as the year after your trauma. The Insured Network Benefit covers your GP consultation fees, and blood tests requested using the Discovery Health pathology form, at our network providers, to ensure that you don’t have any gaps in cover.
The Insured Network Benefit ensures you have no gaps in cover for GPs and pathology in our network
We further extend your day-to-day cover through the Insured Network Benefit. When you have spent your annual Medical Savings Account deposit:
- We cover the full cost of your consultation fees if you go to a GP in our network. We pay the claim directly to the GP.
- We cover blood tests at our network providers if your GP or specialist requests the appropriate tests using the Discovery Health pathology form.
The Above Threshold Benefit offers extra day-to-day cover
Your day-to-day cover is further extended through the Above Threshold Benefit – a safety net that covers you when your expenses add up to a set amount.
The Executive Plan includes an Above Threshold Benefit that gives you further day-to-day cover when your Medical Savings Account runs out and when your day-to-day claims add up to a set rand amount. On the Executive Plan, the Above Threshold Benefit is unlimited.
For you to get to your Above Threshold Benefit, we add your claims up to your Annual Threshold. Here are the amounts that we add up:
- For Premier Rate specialists, we add up the Premier Rate. For non-participating specialists, we add up to 300% of the Discovery Health Rate.
- For GPs, and all other healthcare services, we add up the Discovery Health Rate.
- For generic medicine, we add up 100% of the Discovery Health Medication Rate. For non-generic medicines, we add up 90% of the Discovery Health Medication Rate. Over-the-counter medicines do not add up to your Annual Threshold.
We add up the amount to the benefi t limit available.
No annual limit on some day-to-day healthcare services
We pay for these healthcare services from your Medical Savings Account with no annual limit:
- GPs. You benefit from payment at a higher rate on the Executive Plan.
- Specialists
- Allied healthcare professionals, for example physiotherapists
- Radiology and pathology
- Endoscopies (gastroscopy, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy and proctoscopy)
- MRI and CT scans
Limits on some day-to-day healthcare services
Some of your day-to-day benefits have limits. These limits apply to claims paid from your Medical Savings Account and Above Threshold Benefit.
| Professional services | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mental health benefit* (including psychologists and psychiatrists) | You have R15 000 for your family | |
| Private nursing | You have R6 200 for your family | |
| Antenatal classes | You have R850 for your family | |
| Dentistry* | You have an overall limit of R26 000 for each person | |
| Medicine | ||
| Prescribed medicine* (schedule 3 and above) | Single member: R19 300 Member with one dependant: R22 550 Member with two dependants: R25 850 Member with three or more dependants: R29 100 |
|
| Over-the-counter medicine, including prescribed schedule 0, 1 and 2 medicine and lifestyle-enhancing products | We pay these claims from available funds in your Medical Savings Account | |
| Appliances and equipment | ||
| External medical items | You have R41 100 for your family | |
| Hearing aids | You have R15 000 for your family | |
| Optical* (includes cover for spectacles, frames, contact lenses and surgery or any healthcare service to correct refractive errors of the eye, for example excimer laser) | You have R3 800 for each person | |
* We pro-rate this benefit according to when you join the medical scheme.
Annual Threshold amounts
| Main member | Adult | For each child (to a maximum of three) |
| R8 580 | R8 580 | R1 632 |
2010 Monthly contributions
| Executive Plan | Monthly Risk Contribution | Monthly MSA | Total Monthly Contribution | Annual MSA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Principal member | R2 146 | R715 | R2 861 | R8 580 |
| Spouse / adult dependant | R2 146 | R715 | R2 861 | R8 580 |
| Child | R408 | R136 | R544 | R1 632 |
General exclusions
Discovery Health does not cover certain healthcare services. You can find a full list of these exclusions here.
How to join Discovery Health
We market our Discovery Health Plans through independent and accredited financial advisers. If you want a financial adviser to help you choose a Health Plan to suit the needs of your family, please send us your contact details and we will contact you.