New legislation caps RAF payouts
Hospital rates are now based on public health facility rates, leaving victims at the mercy of state health care
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With the Christmas and New Year season upon us, thousands of South Africans
take to the roads to enjoy their annual vacations. Unfortunately, this is the
time of year that the death and injury toll rises drastically and many families
are left devastated after each season.
The death toll on South African roads has trebled in the past few years,
while statistics show that for every breadwinner in the country, there are
between 8 - 10 dependents. This means that with every death or serious injury of
a breadwinner, there are up to ten times more people left in financial ruin.
The Road Accident Fund is meant to help cover the majority of the
costs resulting from road accident injuries or, unfortunately, death. However,
new legislation to help the cash strapped Fund means that these payouts have
been drastically cut and capped to amounts that clearly offer insufficient
cover.
The new legislation means that serious injuries will be paid out a maximum of
R160,000, while the payout for an accident resulting in the death of a motorist
will also be R160,000, irrespective of how many dependents he or she has.
South African lawyers have blasted the changes introduced by the Road
Accident Fund and said that R160,000 is not sufficient to pay out a medium sized
bond on a house.
"The regulations implemented this year limit payouts to victims of accidents
and places families at severe risk of bankruptcy," said Michael de Broglio,
speaking for the Johannesburg Attorneys' Association. "In terms of the new laws
ushered in as of August this year, hospitalization is now calculated at public
health facility rates. Accident victims are now left at the mercy of state
health care. It's an untenable situation that the RAF have placed motorists in."
South African motorists are being urged to take out extra cover, if only for
the time that they will spending on the roads this holiday season.
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