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- Patrice Motsepe-backed TymeBank is expanding its primary healthcare offering to allow for third-party beneficiaries such as domestic workers.
- This will allow coverage for as little as R139 per month, giving access to services through a network of more than 12 000 doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare providers.
- According to home cleaning platform SweepSouth, SA's about 800 000 employed domestic workers earn just under R3 000 a month on average.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
TymeBank has partnered with Patrice Motsepe-backed National HealthCare Group to offer an affordable primary healthcare insurance solution for third-party beneficiaries, such as domestic workers, for as little as R139 per month.
National HealthCare is a fully accredited healthcare administrator and managed care organisation focused on providing South Africans with access to affordable healthcare services via a network of more than 12 000 doctors, pharmacies and other providers.
Its shareholders include ARC Health, which is owned by African Rainbow Capital Investments, an investment vehicle founded by Motsepe.
"Given these stark economic realities, it is easy to understand why domestic workers, like millions of other South Africans, struggle to afford private healthcare," said Nuno da Silva, managing executive for insurance at TymeBank in a statement.
"While this facility is available to anyone wishing to purchase healthcare insurance for someone else, it represents an ideal opportunity for employers to provide their domestic workers with access to quality private primary healthcare nationwide. Historically, employers have found it costly and, therefore, nearly impossible to provide these essential benefits for their workers."
The digital retail bank had launched its primary healthcare offering in 2022, TymeHealth. After launching in 2019, the bank is closing in on 8 million customers in SA.
READ | Weeks after launching a credit card, TymeBank is now into medical insurance
Home cleaning platform SweepSouth’s 2023 domestic worker report shows that the average monthly income for domestic workers in South Africa is approximately R2 989.
Stats SA’s latest employment data from August 2023 also shows there are 844 000 employed domestic workers in households and businesses across South Africa, well below the roughly 1 million employed prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
READ | Domestic workers face spiralling debt as sector bleeds jobs - survey
To apply for a TymeHealth policy employers need to open a TymeBank account, access the medical cover option through the TymeBank app and sign up their employee as a member. They are then prompted to choose the plan that best meets their beneficiary’s needs. Once the application is successful, the new member will be registered onto the National HealthCare Group’s MobiApp using their mobile phone, which will allow them to access a digital membership card.
TymeHealth's benefits can include unlimited GP visits, round-the-clock access to client assistance programmes, basic blood tests, basic X-rays, medication, dentistry, optometry, HIV benefits, and emergency transport via National HealthCare Group’s nationwide network.
"When you consider the contribution of domestic workers to South African households and our economy, more options should be available than having to travel to an overburdened state clinic to wait for hours in a queue – particularly when feeling unwell," said Dr Reinder Nauta, National HealthCare’s executive chair.
"Anyone who is employed should have the means to take care of their basic healthcare with the convenience and quality of service more usually expected in the private health sector."
