Late joiner penalties depend on several factors, such as age, the number of years the applicant was a member of a medical scheme, and the number of years he/she had no cover at all.
The way in which these are calculated are as follows:
Age upon application minus (35 + years covered previously) + the number of years the applicant was not covered.
A percentage is used to calculate the penalty:
0 - 4 years uncovered: 5% of total contribution;
5 - 14 years uncovered: 25% of total contribution;
15 - 24 years uncovered: 50% of total contribution; and
25 years or more uncovered: 75% of total contribution.
