Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is reported to have "attacked medical schemes, saying they were designed for a privileged minority at the expense of society" (Motsoaledi deflects attack by Cosatu on national health scheme, May 17). I am fortunate to have been a member of medical schemes for my entire life. They are expensive, but I take exception to Motsoaledi’s insinuation that the medical scheme system was designed by an elitist clique that deliberately makes membership expensive to exclude the majority of South Africans. Before attacking the medical scheme system (which, incidentally, was designed by his own department during the late 1990s), he would do well to consider three things: that for many years the medical scheme industry and the Council for Medical Schemes tried to introduce low-cost schemes but the council eventually scrapped the initiative; that the extensive prescribed minimum benefits prevent schemes pricing membership at a more affordable level; and that 25% as a...
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