BROKERS play an important and necessary role in the distribution of products and offer valuable advice to consumers of private healthcare, yet there are pockets of people in the health industry who are driving an antibroker stance, including the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS) and the Department of Health.Even the word "broker" has negative connotations — a much better term would be "intermediary" or "adviser", since our profession is regulated by the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.Out of 5,500 complaints received by the medical schemes council in 2015, only three were related to advice given by brokers. Despite this, health-care brokers are portrayed as villains who are cost drivers, when in fact, we are the only people in the system whose costs are regulated. Our fees are 1.1% of the costs of total gross contribution payable to medical schemes and are capped in terms of what we can charge. Even that figure is exaggerated, including marketing and advertising cost...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.