THE Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) is about to become far less generous to civil servants and their families, as it tries to stabilise its membership base and improve its finances.From October 1, it plans to implement waiting periods for previous and new members, a measure it hopes will put an end to civil servants opting in and out of GEMS as their health needs wax and wane.While the move may be financially prudent, it is a move unlikely to sit well with public sector unions. Medical benefits are a key perk of the job and were central to last year’s three-year wage deal.Earlier this week it emerged that GEMS is scrambling to deal with an unexpected spike in hospital claims, which has put pressure on its solvency ratio. GEMS’s solvency ratio stood at 9.46% at the end of last year, less than half the statutory requirement of 25%. The solvency ratio measures a scheme’s claims-paying ability and is the ratio of members’ accumulated reserves to its annualised contribution in...
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