CHRONIC Illness Benefit

What is a chronic illness?

A chronic condition lasts for longer than three months; it can be treated, but cannot be cured like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure. For these illnesses, you need to take medicine for a long time to manage them but they do not go away when you take medicine.

Glencore has a Chronic Illness Benefit which is separate from your Acute Medicine Benefit. In order to obtain medicine under the Chronic Illness Benefit:

Your condition must meet the necessary clinical requirements;
The relevant medicine must fall within the basket of approved medication for the relevant condition; and
You must apply to register the medicine you are taking for your chronic condition on the Chronic Illness Benefit.

If you have not successfully registered a medicine under the Chronic Illness Benefit, the medicine may be paid for from the Acute Medicine Benefit resulting in you reaching your Acute Medicine Benefit limit quicker.If you have successfully registered on the Chronic Illness Benefit, Glencore pays for the registered medication from the Chronic Illness Benefit and not from your Acute Medicine Benefit.

Below is a list of the chronic conditions we cover:

Addison's disease
Asthma
Bipolar mood disorder
Bronchiectasis
Cardiac failure
Cardiomyopathy
Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD)
Chronic renal disease
Coronary artery disease
Crohn's disease
Diabetes insipidus
Diabetes mellitus type 1
Diabetes mellitus type 2

Dysrhythmias
Epilepsy
Glaucoma
Haemophilia
Hyperlipidaemia
Hypertension
Hypothyroidism
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson's disease
Rheumatoid arthritis
Schizophrenia
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Ulcerative colitis

Medicine helps Flora manage her Asthma:

Flora was diagnosed with asthma one year ago. Glencore Medical Scheme pays the full amount of the medicine she requires for the asthma from the Chronic Illness Benefit since she has a condition on the above list and she is registered on the Chronic Illness Benefit. In addition, she and her doctor chose medicine from the Scheme’s medicine list for asthma and Flora utilises a network pharmacy. Flora does not have to use her own money to pay for any medicine for her asthma.

How to register for the Chronic Illness Benefit

In order to register, your doctor needs to be involved in the process and aware that you have a chronic illness that meets the necessary clinical requirements.

Step 1: Visit your doctor and talk about the chronic medicine you need. To avoid paying money from your own pocket, ask the doctor to prescribe medicine that is on the Glencore Medical Scheme medicine list

Step 2: While you are with your doctor, ask him/her to help fill in the with you. The doctor will submit the form to the Chronic department. You will receive feedback on whether your application has been approved or not. If your application has been approved.

Step 3 Go to a pharmacy with your prescription and collect your medicine. Remember to use a network pharmacy to avoid paying money from your own pocket.

Find out more about the Chronic Illness Benefit

Visit www.glencoremedicalscheme.co.za to find out more about the Chronic Illness Benefit and how to register for it. If you don’t register, we will pay for your medicine from the Acute Medicine Benefit until you reach the relevant limit.

Since you need to keep taking chronic medicine, this usually means reaching the limit for your Acute Medicine Benefit early in the year. You then have to pay for all the medicine you need from your own pocket.