Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 July 2026

This policy is written in plain language so it's actually useful to read. It covers what PlainAid collects and why. It hasn't been reviewed by a lawyer yet — before this goes live for real, have someone qualified in South African privacy and financial-services law check it, especially the broker-referral section below.

Who we are

PlainAid ("we", "us", "PlainAid") runs an independent, free medical aid comparison and information website for South African consumers. We are not a medical aid scheme, broker, administrator, or Financial Services Provider (FSP). This policy explains what personal information we collect through plainaid.co.za, why we collect it, and what your rights are under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Information you give us directly

When you use our "Get free guidance" or "Get broker advice" forms, we ask for:

Your full name
Your phone number and/or email address
What kind of cover you're interested in, your rough budget, and how you'd prefer to be contacted

We only collect this when you choose to submit a form, and only after you tick the consent checkbox next to it.

Information we collect automatically

Like most websites, we automatically collect some technical and usage information as you browse, so we can understand how the site is being used and keep it running well:

Pages you view, searches you run, and plans or hospitals you look at
An approximate location (city, province, and country) worked out from your IP address — never your precise GPS location, and only if you use the map's "near me" feature do we ask for exact location, which stays in your browser and is never sent to us
Which comparisons you build and which schemes you click on

This information is not linked to your name unless you've separately submitted a lead form. It's used in aggregate to understand which plans, terms, and hospitals people care about most, so we can improve the site.

Information stored on your device

We store a small amount of information directly in your browser (not on our servers), including:

Whether you've already seen the welcome screen, and which of Female / Male / Other you picked — this only changes the site's colour theme, nothing else
Temporary filters and search terms, so the site feels consistent as you move between pages in one visit

None of this is personal information in the POPIA sense, and none of it is shared with advertisers or used for tracking you across other websites.

Why we process your information

We rely on the following legal bases under POPIA:

Your consent — for the personal details you submit through a lead or callback form, and for sharing that information with a broker
Our legitimate interest — for aggregate, non-identifying usage analytics that help us keep the site useful and working properly

Who we share your information with

Accredited brokers and financial advisers — only if you've ticked the consent box on a form, we pass your details to a broker so they can contact you about medical aid options. PlainAid does not receive a commission or fee for this.
Our infrastructure providers — your information is stored using Supabase, our database and authentication provider. They process data on our behalf and don't use it for their own purposes. Depending on Supabase's hosting region, your information may be processed outside South Africa; where that happens, we rely on the safeguards required under POPIA for cross-border transfers.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone, and we do not share it with advertisers.

How we protect your information

Access to leads and analytics is restricted to signed-in PlainAid administrators only — the general public (and even our own website's background code) cannot read this data, only submit to it. All data is transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections.

How long we keep it

We keep lead information for as long as reasonably needed to provide the guidance you requested, and then for a limited period afterwards in case you follow up. Aggregate analytics (which aren't linked to your name) may be kept longer to track trends over time. You can ask us to delete your personal information at any time — see "Your rights" below.

Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

Ask us what personal information we hold about you
Ask us to correct information that's wrong or out of date
Ask us to delete your information
Withdraw your consent to being contacted by a broker, at any time
Object to how we're processing your information
Lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator if you believe we haven't handled your information properly

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. For full detail on your rights and how to complain to the Regulator, see our POPIA Notice.

Children

PlainAid is intended for adults making healthcare decisions for themselves or their families. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the site evolves. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when we do.

Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or want to exercise your rights, contact us at info@plainaid.co.za.