AON MINET Post-Retirement Medical Fund (RetireMed) Benefits and what you need to know
Many employers provide comprehensive medical insurance cover to their employees while they are employed. However, such cover usually ceases upon retirement. Retirees, therefore, suffer a double blow:
• Cessation of medical cover at a time when they are most likely to fall ill. For instance, in Kenya, it is estimated that 35% of inpatients are people over the age of 60, although this group makes up only 4% of the country’s total population.
• Increased medical costs, at a time when their income is typically reduced. Also, the incidence rates for most chronic illnesses including various cancers, diabetes, renal failure and cardiac issues tend to increase with age.
These factors usually result in relatively expensive medical insurance premiums for the elderly, resulting in most retirees lacking medical cover.
Given the above, most retirees resort to “Out of Pocket (OOP)” payment for incurred medical expenses. This has generally been a big contributor to poverty in the country as it is estimated that 38% of Kenyans who finance their medical expenses through OOP have to either sell off their assets or borrow the funds.
Minet Post-Retirement Medical Fund (RetireMed) is designed to assist employees to save for their medical expenses in retirement.
Contributions
RetireMed is set up within the Minet Umbrella Pension Scheme. This ensures that the Retirement fully regulates the PRMF
Benefits Authority. Besides, contributions to the PRMF are eligible for applicable tax relief.
Contributions to the PRMF can be made by employees only, by the employer only, or by both the employer and the employees.
The contributions can target a specific level of medical coverage at retirement.
Members can choose from different outpatient and inpatient plans that best fit their needs, and we can tell them how much they need to pay each month.
Also, upon retirement, members can transfer up to 10% of their accumulated pension benefits to our PRMF to enable them to purchase their required level of coverage.
Benefits of RetireMed
Members will be provided with various options at retirement to access their medical benefits. These options include:-
Medical annuity
When it’s time to retire, the saved money will be used to buy an annuity from an insurance company.
The annuity proceeds are then used to make payments during the member’s life.
The regular payments received from the life annuity or the drawdown fund would then be utilized to purchase medical insurance coverage during retirement.
If a provider is not available, the payments will be used to directly cover any medical expenses incurred by the member during retirement.
RetireMed does not, however, guarantee any medical rates during retirement, these would only be known when a member retires and subsequently during retirement, depending on prevailing medical rates.
2. Medical drawdown fund
A member’s accumulated funds at retirement are transferred to a medical drawdown fund. Payments would then be made from this fund until it is exhausted or the member dies.
3. Investments
Contributions into the RetireMed Fund will be invested separately from the assets of the Umbrella scheme.
The investment strategy will be relatively lower risk to ensure that the RetireMed contributions are not exposed to much volatility in the investment markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for the Retirement Product?
Retiremed is registered under the Minet Umbrella Pension Scheme.
The scheme administers both individual and group schemes.
The entry ages are between 18 years and 59 years
Do contributions earn any interest?
Yes, the contributions are invested and start earning interest from the day they are received.
Your total accumulated fund is made up of your contributions and investment returns.
Retiremed has a minimum guaranteed return of 5%.
How to know how much you have contributed to the scheme and the interest you have earned
At the end of every year, you will receive a member statement reflecting the contributions made by you (the member), the contributions made by your employer (if any) and the interest earned from these contributions.
What happens if you die or become unable to work?
The total fund, made up of contributions and investment returns, is paid to your nominated beneficiary immediately upon death.
The total fund is also paid to you or your beneficiary in case you become ill and completely unable to work.
Q: What Happens to you when you lose your job or change jobs?
The retirement savings belong to you and are not affected by job changes.
Suppose your current employer is contributing to your plan.
In that case, you need to negotiate with your future employer about contributing to your plan if they do not have a post-retirement medical scheme.
PLEASE NOTE:
• The medication cost will be based on the prevailing market rates at retirement.
• This product offers no guarantees that a medical insurance provider may not be available after retirement.
Members will be able to use their savings to cover their medical expenses.
AON MINET Post-Retirement Medical Fund (RetireMed) Benefits and what you need to know
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