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Should you wish to query your medical aid benefits or update your details, please click here.

Contact Details

Customer Call Centre:
0860 002 163

Private Bag X35
Claremont
7735

Following the merger that took place at the end of 2009, all of us at Liberty Medical Scheme are looking forward to an exciting year ahead and to delivering optimal service and benefits to our members. We launched a new look website for Liberty Medical Scheme at the end of last year – if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to visit www.libmed.co.za – and we are excited to kick off this year by unveiling a new look Alive newsletter as well. The changes made to both are designed to make for easy interaction and trouble-free navigation.

Here's to a great year ahead – may it bring you all you wish and work for.

The Liberty Medical Scheme team.

At the beginning of January, our Contact Centre experienced an extremely high volume of calls, which unfortunately caused some technical glitches in our Contact Centre systems. Some calls related to the processing of incorrect monthly contribution payments for January, arising from the fact that banks processed payments early in December before some members had made their option change. Any such shortfalls or excesses relating to the January payments will automatically be corrected and off-set in the February 2010 payment run.

We would like to thank you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused. We assure you that the issue relating to our Contact Centre has been resolved.

We'd also like to highlight the additional ways in which you can make contact with us:

• Email: register your email address with us by sending a blank email to enquiries@libertyhealth.co.za. Our system will generate an automatic reply email containing your details of your membership, claims history, benefits used and chronic medication.
• Website: our interactive member website www.libmed.co.za offers a host of facilities that provide you with real-time access to the systems used by our Contact Centre. All you need to do is log in and you can track the status of a claim, check available benefits, view your contributions history or find a service provider, among many other things.
• SMS: make sure your cellphone is registered on our system so you can make use of our SMS facility. Send an SMS to 39372 with BN for benefits, CL for claims and DE for information on registered dependents, and we'll send you a reply SMS with the information requested.

Liberty Medical Scheme partners with a range of service providers to help deliver the most cost-effective benefits to our members. Clicks Pharmacies is one of our service providers that have devised a range of solutions to make your medical aid go further.

They offer low medicine prices, do not charge administration fees and can provide you with generic substitutions which help lower the cost of your medication significantly. Clicks ClubCard members will earn Plus Points on their dispensing fees.

You can also access cost-effective services at their clinics, including screening tests, blood drawing facilities, counselling, immunisations, injections, wound care and woman and baby wellness services. The Health Tracker Lifestyle Management Programme will assist you with maintaining and improving your health. Visit the website at www.healthtracker.co.za or call 0860 254 257 for more information.

If you are on chronic medication you can arrange to have your medication delivered directly to you, or to be ready for your collection at any one of the 200 Clicks Pharmacies nationwide. Visit the website at www.directmedicines.co.za or call 0861 444 405 for more information.

While the holidays may be over, summer will be with us for a while yet. Most South Africans associate the season with sunshine, being outdoors and swimming. But sadly summer is also the season when drownings increase. Last summer, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to 98 drowning or near drowning incidents in Gauteng alone. Children are particularly at risk – every year children slip away unnoticed, fall into unprotected swimming-pools and drown.

The good news however is that child drowning is preventable. Safety nets and SABS approved pool fencing can prevent a child from drowning in a swimming-pool. Children also drown easily in baths, toilets, water buckets and washbasins and it's important to keep these covered or empty when children are around. Never leave a young child unattended, especially if there is an unprotected swimming-pool on the premises. Educate your children not to run around a swimming-pool, not to push friends into the pool and to always get in at the shallow end.

In the event of a drowning emergency, take the child out of the water immediately. If there is no response from them, shout for help and commence CPR. If no help arrives, continue CPR and calling for assistance. When someone responds to your calls for help, ask them to call Netcare 911 on 082 911 for an ambulance.

Help is at hand with Netcare 911

Netcare 911 is Liberty Medical Scheme's Emergency Services provider and offers our members world-class emergency response services, a fleet of 240 emergency vehicles and telephonic medical advisory services and a range of other innovative products. Their emergency evacuation services include emergency medical response at the scene of an accident, evacuation by road or air transportation, inter-hospital transfers and transfer of life-saving medication and emergency blood to the scene of an accident.

If you are in an emergency you should call Netcare 911. However, if you need to make use of another service provider, in the event of an emergency, the cost of these services will be covered provided you notify Netcare 911 within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in you being personally liable for payment of the alternative medical emergency service.

The Netcare 911 School of Emergency and Critical Care also offers training courses in child and adult CPR to members of the public. It's a good idea for everyone to do such a course as it can save a life in an emergency. For more information visit the website at www.netcare911.co.za.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women and Children, which ran during November to December last year, emphasised the plight of vulnerable members of society as victims of violence. Apart from being a serious infringement on human rights, violence and abuse are major public health problems and frequently result in a wide range of physical, mental and sexual health problems.

As such, the Medical Schemes Act stipulates that all medical schemes must offer treatment of physical injuries and mental health trauma caused by violence and abuse as a Prescribed Minimum Benefit (PMB).

In addition, Liberty Medical Scheme offers a special Crime Trauma Benefit that helps cover the costs of consultations with registered psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers following traumatic crime-related incidents. These include hijacking and attempted hijacking, attempted murder, assault or attempted assault, rape or attempted rape and robbery.

To make use of the benefits, you need to report the crime to a police station and get a case number before calling us on 0860 002 163. This benefit does not apply to members on Bona Plus or Corporate Network Options.

In order to ensure prompt payment of claims, members of all medical schemes need to submit their claims for processing no later than four months after the date on which they received treatment.

However, there are some circumstances under which late or 'stale' claims will be processed. These circumstances are governed by the Medical Schemes Act.

If you submit your claim within the four-month claim period, and it is unacceptable for payment for some reason, we will inform you and your healthcare provider within 30 days of receiving the claim or account. This will be done via a claims statement.

You will then have the opportunity to correct and resubmit your claim or account. This must be done within 60 days from the date that we informed you it was not payable and returned to you for correction. It does not matter if the above processes fall outside of the initial four-month period.