For those people who do not have medical coverage, the thought of falling ill or needing medical treatment for an injury can be worrying. If you do not have the correct amount of medical coverage, then you could be faced with some fairly hefty medical bills once you have finished your treatment. Medical care can prove to be quite expensive, especially so if you have a long term illness or other medical problem, which requires long term treatment from various medical professionals. No one wants the added stress and concern that comes with worrying about how they are going to pay their medical bills. Instead they just want to concentrate on putting all their effort and energy into their recovery so they can get back to work as soon as possible.
That is why there are now a number of medical aid schemes available to help those people on low incomes to receive the highest standard of medical care they can. There are a number of medical aid companies who provide a number of different medical aid schemes, which are open to everyone. However, there has been a recent rise in the number of closed medical schemes whose sole purpose is to provide medical aid schemes exclusively for their employees.
The South African government is no exception to this, and they have been running their own medical aid scheme for public service workers for the past eight years. Known as the Government Employee Medical Scheme (GEMS), it was founded in 2005 as a way of providing top quality healthcare at a reasonable price for all public service workers.
The GEMS medical aid scheme offers employees of the government, five stand alone medical aid packages that should suit the needs and financial limits of all government employees. Named after famous gemstones, the five medical aid packages are called: Sapphire, Onyx, Beryl, Ruby and Emerald.
Prior to this scheme being introduced by the South African government, it was said that a large number of the South African government workforce could not afford adequate medical care for themselves and their families. This spurred on the government to provide this closed medical aid scheme for its employees so that they could all afford some kind of medical aid no matter what pay grade they were on.
Impressed by the scheme and its flexibility, a number of other large employers in South Africa began to form their own closed medical aid scheme for the exclusive use of their employees. Now there is more choice than ever before for people who are looking for a medical aid scheme that they can afford, that also provides a good range of healthcare options, such as access to a GP, a dentist and an optician.
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