Last reviewed: November 2026. How we work: our editorial standards, corrections policy and how Curemed is paid. General information, not advice. A personalised recommendation follows a written needs analysis under the FAIS Act.
By Roxanne Hurter-Ehlers, Director of People and Governance at Curemed. Reviewed by Hagop Jaghlassian, CEO.
If you lose your job or are retrenched in South Africa, whether you can keep your medical aid depends on the rules of your scheme, not on a blanket guarantee in the law. The Medical Schemes Act protects continuation for members who retire or whose employment ends because of age, ill-health or disability, but it does not name retrenchment. If you stay, expect to pay the full contribution yourself. If you move, keep any break in cover shorter than 90 days.
In short
- The Act requires continuation after retirement or termination for age, ill-health or disability. Retrenchment depends on the scheme rules.
- Nothing in section 29 requires the employer to keep paying its share, so budget for the full contribution.
- Joining a new scheme within 90 days limits the waiting periods it may impose.
- The tax credit follows the taxpayer who paid, and Gap Cover needs its own check.
Stats SA releases its Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2026 this week, and reports this month have flagged job losses linked to the end of AGOA trade benefits from January 2027. If your position is at risk, know your rights before your last working day.
Can you stay on your medical aid after retrenchment?
What does the Medical Schemes Act say about continuation?
Section 29(1)(s) of the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 says the rules of every scheme must provide for continued membership, subject to prescribed conditions, of a member who retires from the service of the employer. The same applies where the employer terminates employment on account of age, ill-health or other disability. Dependants are included.
Retrenchment for operational reasons is not on that list. The Act therefore does not guarantee continuation after retrenchment.
How do scheme rules treat retrenchment?
Some schemes extend the right. As an example, the 2023 published rules of Discovery Health Medical Scheme (Rule 6.2.1) say that, except for voluntary resignation from the scheme, a member keeps membership with registered dependants on retirement or when the employer terminates employment on account of retrenchment, age, ill health or other disability. Under Rule 6.2.2 the scheme must inform the member of this right and of the contribution payable from the date of termination.
The current registered rules sit behind the member login, so check the current version. If you belong to another scheme, ask it in writing.
Who pays the contribution once your employer stops?
Nothing in section 29 requires the employer to keep paying its share. Any subsidy after your last day depends on your employment contract or retrenchment agreement, so check both.
If you continue, plan to pay the full contribution yourself. Section 29(2) allows a scheme to cancel or suspend membership for failure to pay contributions within the time allowed in its rules.
Can you move to a lower-cost option mid-year?
Do not assume so. Many schemes allow option changes once a year, effective 1 January, and none of the scheme documents we reviewed guarantee a mid-year downgrade on retrenchment. The Discovery rules say option changes take effect from 1 January unless the Board allows another date at its discretion.
Ask your scheme whether it will consider an earlier change, and read our guide to changing your medical aid plan mid-year. For a change from 1 January 2027, requests at many schemes are due by 31 December 2026. Our overview of hospital plans under R1,500 covers entry-level options.
What waiting periods apply if you join a different scheme?
Section 29A sets the limits. The outcome turns on how long you were covered before and how long the break is when you apply.
| Your situation after leaving a job | What a new scheme may impose under section 29A | Are PMBs covered during the wait? |
|---|---|---|
| No cover in the 90 days before you apply (section 29A(1)) | General wait of up to 3 months and condition-specific wait of up to 12 months | Not necessarily. PMBs may be excluded |
| Covered for up to 24 months, ending less than 90 days before you apply (section 29A(2)) | Condition-specific wait of up to 12 months, plus any unexpired wait from the old scheme | Yes. PMB treatment is excepted |
| Covered for more than 24 months, ending less than 90 days before you apply (section 29A(3)) | General wait of up to 3 months | Yes. PMB treatment is excepted |
| You stay on the same scheme and change option (section 29A(4)) | No new wait. Only a remaining one can carry over | No new wait applies |
| Cover ended less than 90 days before you apply and a change of employment, or an employer changing or ending its scheme, requires the transfer (section 29A(6)) | No new waiting periods. An unexpired wait from the old scheme may carry over (section 29A(8)) | No wait applies |
Does the change of employment exemption cover a job loss?
Not clearly. Section 29A(6) removes waiting periods where a transfer is required as a result of a change of employment, and a new employer whose scheme membership is compulsory is a clear example. Whether a person who loses a job and then joins a scheme as an individual qualifies is not clear from the text. Do not assume it applies, and ask the new scheme in writing.
Why does the 90-day window matter?
Take Nomsa, aged 41, who has had 6 years of unbroken cover. If she joins a new scheme within 60 days, section 29A(3) allows only a general waiting period of up to 3 months, and PMB treatment remains covered. If she lets cover lapse for 4 months, section 29A(1) applies: up to 3 months general plus up to 12 months condition-specific, and PMBs may be excluded.
Age adds a second risk. Under the General Regulations, late joiner penalties can apply to people aged 35 or older who join with gaps in creditable coverage, and a long gap can create a permanent penalty.
What happens to your Gap Cover when employment ends?
Gap Cover is short-term insurance under the Demarcation Regulations, supervised by the FSCA, not a medical scheme. Insurers make medical scheme membership a contractual eligibility condition, so if your medical aid ends, check the policy wording.
Employer group Gap Cover may end with your employment. Ask the insurer whether an individual policy can follow without new waiting periods, as Gap Cover waiting periods vary by insurer. The statutory annual limit is R226,881.03 per insured person, effective 1 April 2026, as published by National Treasury on 1 September 2026.
Who claims the medical scheme fees tax credit after a job loss?
The credit belongs to the taxpayer who paid the contributions, not automatically to the person named as the member. For the 2027 tax year (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027), the SARS rates are R376 a month for the taxpayer, R752 for the taxpayer and one dependant, and R254 for each additional dependant. Employer-paid contributions count only to the extent taxed as a fringe benefit.
Suppose Thabo is retrenched at the end of November 2026, and his spouse Lerato pays the full contribution from her salary from December. Lerato, as the taxpayer who paid, claims the credit for those months, where Thabo is her dependant for tax purposes. Thabo cannot claim the same months as well.
The tax certificate is in the name of the member, so SARS may ask the payer for an affidavit on audit. Use our medical aid tax credit calculator to estimate the amount.
What should you do in the first 30 days?
- Ask HR and the scheme in writing whether you can continue and at what contribution.
- Set up a personal debit order before the first payment is missed.
- Decide whether to downgrade, and ask if that is possible before 1 January.
- If you are moving schemes, keep any break in cover under 90 days.
- Check whether your Gap Cover continues and on what terms.
- Keep proof of cover: a membership certificate with join and end dates, plus payment records.
How can a Curemed Advisor help?
A Curemed Advisor can compare options across schemes against your new budget and explain which waiting periods may apply. You can contact our team for a comparison.
After a job loss the scheme admin piles up: confirming continuation terms, moving from employer billing to a personal debit order, an option change request, and tracking claims still in the system. CureClub, an exclusive member benefit from Curemed, is a dedicated healthcare support team that handles that scheme side on your behalf, including claim submissions, authorisations and escalations when the scheme gets something wrong. It is open to anyone on a registered South African medical scheme, members can move to Curemed as Advisor of record without changing plan or scheme, and over 4,500 people have joined.
Frequently asked questions
Can I join the medical aid of my spouse as a dependant?
You can apply, subject to the rules of that scheme on who qualifies. Section 29A applies to admission as a dependant in the same way as to a new member, so apply within 90 days of your old cover ending.
Are claims from before my last day still paid?
Claims for services received while your membership was active are assessed under the scheme rules in force at that time. The time limits for submitting claims in the scheme rules still apply, so send outstanding accounts promptly.
Can I pause my membership while I look for work?
The Act gives members no right to pause. Section 29(2) only lists the grounds on which a scheme may cancel or suspend membership. Ask your scheme, but a lapse brings waiting period and late joiner risks.
Can a new scheme ask for my medical records?
Only within limits. Under section 29A(7), a scheme may ask for medical reports only for conditions for which you received advice, diagnosis, care or treatment in the preceding 12 months. Answer fully, because non-disclosure of material information is a ground for cancellation.
What if I miss a contribution after I leave?
The scheme may suspend or cancel membership under its rules. As an example, the 2023 Discovery rules (Rule 12.3) allow suspension of benefits if contributions are not paid within 3 days of the due date, with notice that membership may be cancelled if not paid up within 14 days. You can take a dispute to the Council for Medical Schemes.
Roxanne Hurter-Ehlers
Director of People and Governance | Curemed Health and Wealth Consultants
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