Medical Aids

I remember the days when a medical aid was exactly that a medical aid. You used to be able to subscribe to a medical aid with various options from basic membership where you carried a percentage of the cost to full cost coverage. The rates were based on the plan chosen and a premium price was charged for full coverage.

Then came along the idea for splitting the medical benefit into two parts a medical savings scheme and a "reserve" fund. The idea initially was that with the savings you pay a percentage of the cost and the rest came out of the savings. When the savings was exhausted, the medical aid covered the full amount.

This was later changed to full payment of the medical costs from the savings and when the savings are exhausted, you carry the full cost or a partial cost depending on the type of treatment required.

This means that for a significant amount of the time, the subscriber is paying for all his medical cost and there is little or no medical "aid". The medical aid has turned into a glorified savings account where a portion of the premium is being "reserved" and a portion is being allocated for "savings".

Would it not be interesting if someone could work out the numbers to determine exactly how much does it really cost for "medical aid"?

Pointsman

I had to make my way to Sandton this morning. I decided to leave early to avoid the morning traffic. You can imagine my surprise and frustration to find that Grayston drive was backed up at 06:40am in the morning. After 15 minutes of inching along ("metering" if you are metricated), I arrived at the top of the off ramp to discover that the traffic lights were not operational and that points man, which are privately sponsored, in control of the intersection. This is a boon, in the past the intersection would not have been manned and the delay would have been longer. I noticed however that while there seemed to be no delays for traffic that was travelling on Grayston drive, people trying to exit the freeway were being delayed. This is what defied logic. I would have assumed that the purpose of the points man on duty was to ensure that the traffic in all directions would have a fair chance of entering the intersection. It would also be a fair assumption that in the interests off all motorists every attempt would be made to relieve the congestion. The only conclusion that seems valid at this point is that points man are not trained adequately to react to the traffic situation. Than I thought would there not be an opportunity for a company to provide portable traffic lights for such situations? A penalty system could be used to incentivize the correct public sector department to ensure that traffic lights are always kept in order.