Rubik’s Cube complexity of choosing a medical scheme
Consumers like to have options, but perhaps not so many
There is a wide range of benefits and contribution rates across open medical scheme options that makes it difficult for members to assess the value for money they will get from any option, a survey of medical schemes released this week shows. The GTC Medical Aid Survey classifies open schemes and Profmed, the scheme for professionals, into 11 broad categories and compares them on a score derived from contribution rates and scheme sustainability, but there is no accounting in the survey for the differences in benefits that can be crucial to your medical cover. The survey is proof of the comments in the Competition Commission's recent health market inquiry that a large number of differentiated benefit options makes it difficult for consumers to compare the price and richness of cover of different benefit options. The inquiry noted that medical scheme members are not able to compare the quality of the providers the medical schemes contract with as there is little or no information on q...
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