Finding medical aid in South Africa shouldn’t require a spreadsheet, a weekend of research, and a dozen phone calls. It should be clear, comparable, and grounded in facts that matter to you: what’s covered, where you can be treated, how claims are handled, and what it will actually cost each month. Hippo’s medical aid comparison service exists to make that process simpler and more transparent. You tell Hippo a bit about who needs cover, and it returns a range of plans from registered, vetted medical schemes so you can weigh benefits and price side by side. It is free to use, your information stays private, and once you’ve picked a plan, the scheme engages with you directly to finalise membership. The aim is not to sell you on a particular brand; it’s to help you make a measured decision with all the information in one place.
How the comparison journey works
The journey begins with your household. Are you covering only yourself, you and a partner, or a family with children? By starting with this simple definition, Hippo narrows the universe of options to those that are actually relevant. You’ll answer a concise set of questions that refine the results—nothing dramatic, just enough to calibrate for your likely needs and preferences. The outcome is a set of quotes presented next to each other, using consistent language and comparable measures, so you can see what you’re getting for the premium being asked. You won’t need to juggle multiple websites or spend the morning on hold. If one plan stands out, you choose it, and a representative from that medical scheme gets in touch to complete the process.
Why an independent comparison helps
Medical aid is a regulated environment, but it’s still complicated. Benefits are packaged in different ways, terms vary from scheme to scheme, and the same benefit can be described with different jargon. Without a common frame of reference, it’s easy to under- or over-buy. An independent comparison brings the chaos into a single view. Seen next to each other, plans with similar benefits but very different price points become obvious. You may discover that a network variant of a familiar plan provides nearly identical hospital protection at a lower premium, or that a saver option with a medical savings account offers enough day-to-day flexibility without the jump to a fully comprehensive plan. The goal is fewer surprises once you’re actually using your cover.
Trusted schemes, vetted on substance
Hippo’s medical aid partners are not chosen on brand recognition alone. They are schemes with meaningful operating history, strong financial standing, and broad hospital networks. As a practical marker of that health, Hippo works with schemes that hold Global Credit Ratings of A or higher and have been operating for decades, not months. Network reach matters in an emergency, so partners offer access to large numbers of hospitals—well into triple digits, with many exceeding 200 facilities. That combination of financial resilience and service capacity reduces the risk of unpleasant shocks when you need care most. When you compare on Hippo, you are choosing among established, regulated options.
What medical aid really costs
Costs vary by plan type, covered lives, and the flexibility you want. As a real-world reference point, monthly contributions for major schemes span a wide range. Entry-level or network-based options can begin in the hundreds of Rand per month, while comprehensive plans with robust day-to-day benefits can climb into the many thousands. Recent published ranges (as of May 2025) illustrate the spread: CompCare from roughly R520 to R9,187; Momentum Health from about R541 to R13,573; Medihelp from about R894 to R12,792; Fedhealth from approximately R965 to R14,883; ProfMed from around R956 to R11,883; Discovery Health from about R1,102 to R10,303; Bonitas from roughly R1,378 to R9,853; BestMed from about R1,432 to R10,343; MedShield from around R1,584 to R7,842; and KeyHealth from about R1,990 to R11,308. Treat these as directional rather than definitive. Your actual quote depends on the exact option chosen, how many dependants you add, and scheme-specific rules. The value of the comparison is that you see your numbers, not just averages.
Plan types explained in plain language
Medical aid comes in a handful of familiar shapes. A hospital plan is the lightest: it focuses on in-hospital treatment and emergencies, and generally does not fund everyday GP visits, dentistry, or routine medication unless explicitly stated. Many people choose hospital plans when they want strong protection for the big, unpredictable events and are comfortable paying day-to-day costs out of pocket.
- A saver plan pairs hospital cover with a medical savings account. A portion of your monthly contribution goes into this account to fund everyday expenses like GP visits and prescribed medication. It’s a flexible middle ground if you want predictable access to routine care without stepping up to a fully comprehensive option.
- Comprehensive plans layer richer day-to-day benefits on top of hospital cover. They suit families and individuals with frequent medical needs, specialist consultations, or therapies that are difficult to budget for sporadically. The premium is higher, but so is the breadth of funded care.
- Network plans trade a lower contribution for a clear expectation: use the scheme’s designated providers and facilities. If you’re comfortable with that constraint, network variants can deliver meaningful savings while maintaining solid hospital protection. They are a common way to balance value with access.
- Income-based options anchor premiums to earnings, often with network rules to control costs. For students, first-job members, or households managing a tight budget, this can be a pragmatic way to secure essential protection without over-committing.
Across all of these, Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs) sit as the baseline. By law, all registered medical schemes must cover defined emergency conditions and a list of chronic diseases. PMBs won’t resolve every out-of-pocket scenario, but they ensure a minimum floor of essential care, provided you follow the scheme’s rules for designated service providers and authorisations.
Medical aid, medical insurance, and gap cover—how they differ
It helps to separate three concepts that are often conflated. Medical aid is the regulated scheme model South Africans know: you pay a monthly contribution, and in return the scheme funds health services according to the benefits of your option, including hospitalisation, specialists, and (depending on the plan) day-to-day care. PMBs apply across the board.
Medical insurance is a different product. It pays fixed benefits for defined events—such as a set amount per day in hospital—rather than funding the full tariff of services within a comprehensive benefit design. It can have a role, particularly for those who cannot afford medical aid, but it is not a one-for-one substitute and does not carry the same PMB obligations.
Gap cover is neither medical aid nor medical insurance in the broad sense; it’s a policy that sits alongside medical aid to protect you from the shortfall when a provider charges above your scheme’s tariff. Specialist procedures are the classic example. Gap cover can save you from large co-payments, but it only works in the presence of an active medical aid. Consider it a complement, not an alternative.
What you actually see when you get quotes
The power of Hippo’s approach is in the presentation. Instead of learning a new vocabulary for each scheme, you see like-for-like descriptions of hospital benefits, day-to-day allowances, network rules, and key limits. The pricing is displayed transparently next to these features. If you prefer a saver plan, you can compare savings account allocations and what happens once you exhaust them. If you lean toward a network option, you can examine how the designated providers are defined and where they operate. The point is not to nudge you toward the cheapest box; it’s to help you understand the trade-offs in context.
Privacy, data handling, and what happens next
The service is free to use. Your information is used to generate accurate quotes and to connect you with the scheme you pick—nothing more. Hippo does not sell your data. Once you choose a plan, you move from the comparison layer into the scheme’s onboarding process. That handoff is important: claims, chronic registrations, and ongoing service are between you and your medical scheme, where they belong.
Answering the questions people actually ask
The “best” plan for a family depends on your family. If you have young children with frequent GP visits, a saver or comprehensive option may be kinder to your cash flow. If you are healthy and want robust protection against serious events, a hospital-centric or network plan may be the right balance. Orthodontics, LASIK, mental-health services, and women’s health screenings are covered very differently across options; some plans include them with limits and authorisations, others restrict or exclude them. Use the comparison to check the benefits that matter to you, not just the headline premium.
Costs are not a mystery, but they are variable. Expect to pay a few hundred Rand per month for the most basic, network-based hospital protection, and progressively more as you add day-to-day benefits, out-of-network freedom, and higher limits. Age, dependants, and plan design all move the needle. The most accurate way to set expectations is to generate quotes for your exact household rather than guessing from averages.
PMBs deserve one more note. They are a safety net, not a blank cheque. To access full PMB cover you may need to use the scheme’s designated providers and obtain authorisations. Understanding those pathways upfront prevents frustration later, and the comparison helps you see how each scheme manages the PMB reality in practice.
A good selection process is surprisingly straightforward. Begin by deciding where you sit on the spectrum from network-anchored value to open-access flexibility. Consider how often you really use day-to-day services. If you rarely see a GP and mainly want protection against hospital events, favour a hospital or network plan and budget for routine costs as they arise. If predictable day-to-day funding matters, look at saver options and how the medical savings account is structured. If you know your household will draw on a wide spread of benefits through the year, compare comprehensive plans with an eye on specialist rules, therapy allocations, and chronic care pathways. Then, pressure-test the shortlist against the hospitals and doctors you prefer to use, especially if you live outside a major metro. The comparison gives you the tools to do all of this quickly.
Getting started
If you have two minutes, you have enough time to make progress. Tell Hippo who needs cover, answer a few clarifying questions, and review the plans that fit. The results are arranged so you can compare price with substance, not just marketing claims. When a plan feels right, choose it and let the scheme take you the rest of the way. No drama, no guesswork, no obligation to switch if you decide to pause. It’s a sober way to make a decision that affects your health and your wallet.
https://www.hippo.co.za/medical-aid-quote/
Final thought
Medical aid is one of the most important financial choices you make for your household. It is also one of the easiest to delay simply because it feels complex. A clear comparison breaks that inertia. With Hippo, you can see the real differences between credible, regulated options and choose a plan that aligns with how you actually live. If that means a lean network hospital plan, great. If it means a robust comprehensive option with broad day-to-day funding, that’s valid too. What matters is that you decide with clarity. That is the point of the platform: to give you the facts in one place, so you can choose confidently and move on with your life.