Momentum HealthSaver - Not such a good decision after all.

I am writing this review in the hope that people will read it and be in a position to make a more informed decision when they consider the Momentum HealthSaver product.

A detailed description of the service/product is available on Momentum Health's website, but in short it enables a consumer to deposit money, extra over and above the standard medical aid fees, into a very low return investment/savings account.

According to the terms and conditions the funds are administered by Momentum and not Momentum Health. This in my opinion makes it similar to other investment/savings products with the added benefit of being linked to your medical aid. This enables one to make provision for when your standard medical aid savings account runs dry or if you just have a hospital plan. When you go to the doctor or have to buy medicine at the pharmacy you just "claim" using your medical aid card and it is paid from your HealthSaver funds. Sounds like a very useful and convenient way of managing savings for medical expenses.

However, below is a summary of the negatives I have experienced with this product and in my opinion reason enough to not make use of the Momentum HealthSaver.

1. When you "claim" using your medical aid card the provider charges Medical Scheme rates. You could easily pay double. Rather save your money somewhere else and pay the discounted "non-medical aid rate". I literally saved thousands on a new pair of glasses.

2. Momentum does not always pay the full amount of a claim, not even if it comes from your money in your investment account. The result is you end up still paying out of your pocket. That's like swiping your bank card and the bank saying no we not going to allow you to pay the full amount from your card, fork up some cash out of your pocket.

3. When you cancel your Momentum HealthSaver, you have to wait up to six months for your money to be returned. You will not find this clause in the terms and conditions up front but will be told this when you enquire about the process to have your funds released. You will however find a clause stating that you will be charged a monthly admin fee should you not claim the funds after six months of cancellation.

4. Apart from the long wait you will be out of emergency medical funds for six months. You will be better off saving the money in a 30 day notice account. You can get the funds earlier but there is a R250 admin fee involved. My bank lets me withdraw money for free.

5. And then there was the bad service through all of this. The momentum agents and manager to do not seem to understand their own product. This is really frustrating because it means you cannot trust a word they say and literally have to spend hours going through documents and reading up, to state your case.