Recover physically and financially from a motor vehicle accident

If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, your first priority must be taking care of yourself.

How we cover claims for motor vehicle accidents

If you or any of your dependants are involved in a motor vehicle accident, call ER24 on 084 124 for ambulance and other emergency services. They will send an ambulance or helicopter to you, if medically necessary. We cover this emergency medical transport from your Risk Benefit.

Otherwise, go straight to the casualty unit, but get someone to call us within 24 hours if you are admitted to hospital.

You may also have cover from the Trauma Recovery Benefit

We designed the Trauma Recovery Benefit to help you if certain traumatic events affect you. We pay some of the medical expenses caused by the trauma from the Trauma Recovery Benefit for the rest of the calendar year in which the trauma happened. This includes expenses for:

Quadriplegia
Paraplegia
External and internal head injuries

The Road Accident Fund can help cover costs

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) covers all users of South African public roads for death or injuries they sustain from motor vehicles accidents. This cover is in the form of indemnity insurance to persons who caused the accident, as well as personal injury and death insurance to victims of motor vehicle accidents and their families.

The medical claims after a motor vehicle accident can use up a significant amount of the money in your Hospital Benefit, Insured Out-of-Hospital Benefit and Personal Medical Savings Account. It can also make you reach your benefit limits early and leave you with little cover for other medical care.

We take the hassle out of claiming from the Road Accident Fund

If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, please tell us as soon as possible. We will refer you to an attorney. If you use the attorney we suggest, you do not have to pay anything for the assessment to find out if you can claim from the Road Accident Fund.

You can also use your own attorney. Ask them to contact us so we can help them with accident-related claims and answer questions about fees.

You still have your usual cover while you wait for the attorney’s assessment and while they wait for the Road Accident Fund to evaluate the claim (if you decide to claim).

Paying back the medical expenses the Scheme paid

If the Road Accident Fund pays you back for the medical expenses the Scheme paid before, you must pay that money back to the Scheme. This is so you do not receive double benefits for the same event and to prevent ‘unjustified enrichment’. ‘Unjustified enrichment’ happens when one person is enriched at another’s loss that the law sees as wrong. For example, if we paid for accident-related treatment from your Personal Medical Savings Account, you must pay this back to the Scheme. This is so that we can put the amount the Road Accident Funds pays out, back into your Personal Medical Savings Account. You can then use the money for other medical care.

The payments from the Road Accident Fund can be made up of different parts:

Some amounts are due to medical expenses
Some to make up for your loss of income
While others are for pain and suffering.

You will only be responsible to pay back to the medical scheme amounts received from the RAF specifically for medical expenses.

There can be more than just the medical cost

The real cost of a serious accident goes beyond the cost of healthcare. You could lose your ability to earn an income for a time or even become disabled. Luckily, South Africans have some financial protection from the Road Accident Fund. If you or a family member is seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian, you can claim for:

Loss of earnings due to the accident as well as likely loss in future
Medical expenses you have paid yourself or will pay in future
Medical expenses Remedi has paid or will pay in future (this money goes back into your benefits)
Disability payment if you are disabled due to serious injuries

If you have any questions, please send an email to discovery_third_party_recovery_services@discovery.co.za you can also get more information about the Road Accident Fund on their website: https://www.raf.co.za