Thinking of getting medical attention in Botswana, always puts a sad on patients. Money is tight for everyone, whether you have a medical scheme, a hospital plan, or nothing. Everyone’s cutting corners and cutting down on things that are thought not to be essential .Here’s how to get the necessary treatment without breaking the bank as a young person.
1. Deal Now With Medical Issues.
Ignoring a medical problem, because you don’t want to pay the GP, often means that you end up paying for three consultations, because the condition has gone from mild to serious as a result of being neglected.
2. Avoid After-Hours Consultations.
Obviously, if there’s a crisis, you’ll have no choice. But going to the GP at the 24-hour clinic on a Sunday morning, because you have a sore throat, is going to cost you a lot more than it would on Monday morning.
3. Look After Yourself.
Prevention is always better than cure. Taking a good multivitamin, eating fresh fruit and vegetables, getting exercise, not having unprotected sex, sleeping enough, not smoking, not drinking excessively and learning to relax, are all things you can do to prevent yourself from being infected by opportunistic viruses and bacteria. The healthier you are, the lower your medical costs will be.
4. Get Access To Medical Information.
In a non-emergency situation, a reliable website, or a good medical reference book may answer some of your questions without your having to incur the cost of going to the GP.
5. Check Out Your Local Supermarket.
Many OTC medications are available at supermarkets. Things such as headache tablets, vitamin pills and antacids are generally much cheaper at the supermarket than they are in the chemist, as the supermarket buys these things in bulk.
6. Check Out The Government Hospitals.
If you have no medical aid, consider going to a state hospital, but check them out first. Some of them are very good, although hardly luxurious. But then, when you need to have your appendix out, who cares about plush carpets and elevator music?
7. Get Your Facts Straight.
Unless there’s a medical emergency, don’t be shy to ask exactly what your hospital plan or medical scheme will cover before you’re admitted to a private hospital. This isn’t the time to be modest.
8. Use Your Benefits.
If you have an over-the-counter facility on your medical scheme, use it. The P100 you save on vitamins by not paying for them out of your own pocket could be spent on petrol in those last three desperate days before payday.
9. Stick With The Company Medical Scheme.
This is often cheaper than going for an open-market medical scheme, where you as an individual may have little bargaining power. Also, closed schemes often charge you according to your income, but everyone gets the same benefits.
10. Stick Together.
If you have two children and a spouse, it will be cheaper to all be on the same medical scheme than if you or your spouse join different schemes as principal members.
