Interim report finds racial bias in outcomes of fraud probes by medical schemes

SA’s biggest medical scheme for public servants and the two biggest medical scheme administrators are 1.4 times more likely to conclude black health-care practitioners have committed fraud, waste or abuse than their white counterparts, according to the interim findings of an investigation into racial profiling commissioned by the industry regulator.

The interim report was released on Tuesday morning, after the Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gems) and the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF), an industry association for medical schemes and administrators, failed to block it at the 11th hour with an urgent court application...