NetOne Introduces Dollar a Month Medical Aid Service

NetOne yesterday launched a $1 a month medical aid service called OneHealth. As far as we know this is one of the lowest premiums (if not the lowest), any medical aid society in Zimbabwe has charges. This makes it an incredibly attractive offer. Medical cover for the price of a loaf of bread.

But whether this is a great deal or not, depends on the actual medical cover benefits you get for the dollar.

OneHealth Benefits

• One visit per month to a General Practitioner (GP)
• $30 worth of medicine a month (chronic medications not covered)

Like other medical aid schemes in Zimbabwe, there’s a 3 months waiting period. While not explicitly stated, it’s likely that if you’re signing up any dependants on your plan, you’re also paying a dollar for each person. So for a family of 5, it’d be $5 a month.

How to sign up for OneHealth

NetOne subscribers can sign up for this medical aid via USSD code *501#. As far as we can tell, this package is only provided to NetOne subscribers.

Once you have signed up, you can download an app which helps you locate GPs and pharmacies that accept OneHealth. You can also do this via a WhatsApp bot.

Using your location, the app (and presumably the bot as well) will let you know where you can get health services. No more going to random GPs just to be told “we don’t accept your medical aid here.”

I just wish they’d list those providers on their site, to make it easier for someone who hasn’t yet signed up to decide.

Salutem & Tres Groupe

As you might expect, NetOne here is just providing a distribution platform. The actual medical aid company behind the scheme is called Salutem International Medical Fund, so the full name of the service is actually Salutem OneHealth. NetOne likely receives a commission for subscribers that sign-up and pay premiums.

Furthermore, behind Salutem the health fund, is an Insure-tech company running things called Tres Groupe. Tres Groupe’s website says it specialises in healthcare schemes administration and its objective here is to reduce the cost of healthcare in Zimbabwe.

A dollar-a-month package will certainly go a long way, so it will be interesting to watch how well this works for them, NetOne and the subscribers. We think NetOne will benefit a great deal. Assuming this is communicated to its subscribers well enough, almost every NetOne subscriber who doesn’t have medical aid cover already, will want to sign up.

This offer may even entice individuals who don’t currently use NetOne to acquire a SIM card (or dig up an old one they were not using) just for this. It just makes sense.

According to Salutem’s website, the company is led by Ruka Nyoka, its Managing Director. According to his LinkedIn profile, he assumed this position in June this year. Before that, he was at BancABC for almost 5 years as Head of Human Capital. It’s likely that he worked with Dr. Lance Mambondiani, the former BancABC CEO and now current chairman of Salutem.

On the Tres Groupe side, the CEO is Dr. Keith Nkomo and has been leading the company as CEO since 2021. The OneHealth service is by no means the company’s first service. They also have technology solution for medical aid societies and healthcare providers enabling instant checks for cover as well as instant payments by medical aid societies to healthcare providers. The company calls it Real Time Claims Processing and Settlement (RTCPS) and you can read more about it here.