Switch medical aid: transfer letter template and how to avoid waiting periods

Use it when you are moving to a new scheme, or a new option in another scheme, and want the old scheme to end your cover on a set date and give you proof of it. It suits an annual switch, a job change, or a move to an employer's scheme.

To pick a scheme, compare plans first with how to compare medical aid plans. Switching within the same scheme, between options, is a different rule, covered below. The changing medical aid guide has the full order of steps.

[Your full name]
[ID number]
[Membership number]
[Cellphone] | [Email]
[Date]

To: The Membership Department
[Old scheme name]

Subject: Cancellation and membership certificate - membership number [MEMBERSHIP NUMBER]

Dear Sir or Madam

I am moving to [NEW SCHEME NAME] with effect from [NEW START DATE]. Please cancel my membership, and that of my dependants listed below, with effect from [LAST DAY OF COVER, THE DAY BEFORE THE NEW START DATE].
[MAIN MEMBER: FULL NAME AND ID NUMBER]
[DEPENDANT 1: FULL NAME AND ID NUMBER]

Please confirm in writing:
1. My cover end date.
2. That you will issue a membership certificate showing my start date, my end date, each beneficiary's cover dates and any waiting periods still running or already served.
3. Whether any amount is owing by me or to me, and how my medical savings balance will be handled.
4. Any [late joiner penalty](/guides/late-joiner-penalty/) recorded against me or my dependants.

Please email the certificate to [EMAIL] by [DATE], as my new scheme needs it.

Yours faithfully
[Full name]
[Signature]

The law caps waiting periods. These are maximums, and a scheme may impose less or none.

Do not read this as "switch within 90 days and there are no waiting periods". That is only true in the job or employer cases. The waiting periods guide explains each row.

The scheme can ask for a medical report only about a condition that had advice, diagnosis, care or treatment in the 12 months before you applied.

• The new scheme's written confirmation of your start date, so you can check the two dates line up.
• A copy of your ID.
• The list of dependants, with ID numbers.

Send the letter only after the new scheme has confirmed cover. Ask the new scheme when it wants the certificate.

Email the letter to the membership address on the old scheme's website or statement, and save the sent copy with its date and time. Ask for a reference number. Use registered post if you post it. Keep the new scheme's acceptance and the old scheme's confirmation together in one folder.

Then check that the old debit order stops after the final contribution and that the new one starts on the right date.

We found no national deadline for the old scheme to issue the certificate, so ask for a date in your letter and follow up in writing. If it does not respond, use the complaint letter, and ask the Council for Medical Schemes for advice on 0861 123 267.

Late joiner penalties can follow you to the new scheme. If you were penalised before and can later prove earlier cover, the new scheme must recalculate the penalty from the date the proof is produced, and a sworn affidavit is enough if documents cannot be obtained. See the late joiner penalty guide.

Chronic cover: we found nothing saying chronic registrations move with you, so register again on the new scheme using the chronic medication letter. The CMS suggests checking what late joiner penalties or waiting periods apply before joining a new scheme.

• Cancelling before the new cover is confirmed in writing.
• Choosing an end date that leaves a gap, or overlaps so you pay twice.
• Not asking for the membership certificate.
• Believing a gap of under 90 days always means no waiting periods.
• Forgetting to register chronic medicine again.
• Ignoring your savings balance. See the savings account letter.