New medical aid Health Squared Medical Scheme has set its sights on snapping up young adults entering the workplace, but competition from SA's three biggest schemes - Discovery Health Medical Scheme, Bonitas Medical Fund and Momentum Health - is stiff in an industry with stagnant growth. Health Squared, which became active this month, is the result of a merger between Resolution Health and Spectramed and has 45,000 beneficiaries and R210m in reserves. Its competitor Discovery has more than 2-million members and R16.4bn in reserves. Bonitas has R4bn reserved for its more than a million members. According to its latest financial results, Discovery has 56% of the open medical aid scheme market, with Bonitas taking up 15% and Momentum 6%. But SA's stagnant growth in insured lives poses a problem, since only 8.8-million of the country's population have been able to afford medical aid in the past five years. Health Squared's board of trustees chair Steven Thobela said he believes that the...
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