PERSONAL MEDICAL ACCOUNT FUNDS
Genesis fights council over who owns members’ savings
The case has implications for the way medical schemes declare their financial statements to the Council for Medical Schemes
The Supreme Court of Appeal incorrectly interpreted the Medical Schemes Act when it concluded that funds in a personal medical savings account could not be treated as both an asset and trust property of a member, Genesis Medical Scheme’s adv Schalk Burger said on Tuesday. Lawyers for Genesis Medical Scheme and the Council for Medical Schemes battled it out at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday over what should happen to the personal medical savings accounts of members if the scheme went insolvent. The case’s outcome will affect how the medical scheme presents financial information in future and will have a ripple effect on all schemes with a similar savings plan. In 2016 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the council, saying medical aid schemes could not account for personal savings as part of their assets. If successful, Genesis’s appeal could see the savings of members being recorded as assets and open for creditors to access them in the event that the scheme went insolvent. Ge...
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