Medical schemes pay out more in claims than they earn in premiums
People are quick to blame their medical scheme for "not paying enough" towards their annual medical expenses. But a report by Alexander Forbes Health entitled Diagnosis‚ released on Monday‚ shows that most South African medical schemes are‚ for the third year‚ paying out more in claims than they earned in premiums.At the same time‚ consumers’ medical premiums will again increase above inflation in 2018‚ as Alexander Forbes noted has happened for 17 years in a row.The Diagnosis report shows that in 2016‚ the medical-aid industry spent R2bn more than it earned in monthly premiums.Medical schemes use investment income from reserves to pay health claims when their payouts exceed what they are paid in a year.The overall industry deficit was R2.390bn‚ almost twice the R1.219bn deficit in 2015.Head actuary of technical actuarial consulting solutions at Alexander Forbes Health‚ Roshan Bhana‚ said the research team had anticipated that the 2017 financial results of schemes would reflect an i...
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