NetcarePlus has unveiled its expanded 2027 offering, built around a simple principle: healthcare cover should start with the healthcare need, not the product. The expansion comes as healthcare costs rise and the needs of South Africans become increasingly diverse.
The new offering was unveiled at the annual NetcarePlus Product Launch in Sandton, against a backdrop of significant change in healthcare globally. Ageing populations and the growing burden of chronic disease are placing increasing pressure on healthcare systems, while advances in technology, data and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities for healthcare to become more connected, preventative and personalised.
The way South Africans fund healthcare is also changing
South Africa brings its own complexity to this global shift. Only 14.6% of the population is currently covered by a medical scheme, while millions of income-earning households remain outside traditional medical scheme cover.
Financial exposure is also growing among those who have medical scheme cover. NetcarePlus analysis shows that average out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure per beneficiary has tripled over the past 11 years, outpacing CPI by more than double over the same period.
According to Teshlin Akaloo, Managing Director of NetcarePlus, this points to a healthcare funding market that can no longer be viewed as a simple choice between having comprehensive medical scheme cover or having no healthcare cover at all.
“South Africans have very different healthcare needs and increasingly need different ways to fund them. Some need affordable access to everyday private healthcare or protection against an emergency. Others already have medical scheme cover but remain exposed to specialist shortfalls, co-payments or treatments their scheme may not cover.
“The question for us is not simply what product we can offer. It is where people remain exposed when they need healthcare and how we can build cover around those needs.”
Building health cover from within healthcare
This approach underpins the evolution of the NetcarePlus portfolio and its positioning as health cover built by the healthcare experts.
As part of the Netcare Group, NetcarePlus is able to draw insights from the healthcare environment itself, including the experiences of people moving through the Netcare ecosystem, changes in healthcare utilisation and costs, and feedback from financial advisers and clients.
“Being part of healthcare delivery gives us a different starting point,” says Akaloo. “We see healthcare not simply as a claim or a transaction, but as a journey. That gives us an opportunity to understand where the real gaps and pressures arise and then consider how cover can respond more meaningfully.”
More choice across the 2027 offering
For 2027, NetcarePlus has expanded its portfolio to give individuals, families and employer groups greater choice across healthcare access and additional financial protection around important health and life events.
The expanded offering includes new Cancer Cover and Funeral Cover, as well as a Scheme-Excluded Procedures benefit that provides additional financial protection for certain procedures not funded by a member’s medical scheme.
NetcarePlus GapCare has also been strengthened with expanded mental-health support, a new optical repair benefit and contraceptive cover, while the PrimaryCare offering is enhanced by additional access to everyday healthcare, including nurse-led and virtual consultations, flu vaccinations and specialist consultations on selected options.
For employer groups, the broader range gives financial advisers greater flexibility to structure healthcare cover around different workforce needs, participation models and budgets.
The evolution comes as NetcarePlus continues to grow rapidly, recording compound annual growth of 57% over the past three years.
“The future of healthcare funding is not about finding one solution for every South African,” says Akaloo.
“It is about creating meaningful choice and building protection around different healthcare needs, life stages and budgets. For us, that is what it means to build health cover from within healthcare itself.”
