LAURA DU PREEZ: Some small medical schemes deserve to survive the cull
Somebody needs to take up the cause of the smaller, restricted medical schemes under threat of being consolidated - or swallowed up by South Africa's largest open scheme - but who will take on that role? That was the gist of a discussion at a recent briefing Alexander Forbes Healthcare gave when it released its latest checkup on the state of the medical scheme industry, Diagnosis. The report notes that schemes have been consolidating since 2001. There were 144 schemes then; now there are 82. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because bigger schemes are generally, but not always, more sustainable and able to negotiate better rates from healthcare providers. The consolidation of schemes and scheme options is a stated goal of National Health Insurance, and, earlier this year, the January deadline for formulating a plan to consolidate schemes with fewer than 6,000 members was highlighted. At the Alexander Forbes briefing, actuary Roshan Bhana questioned the rather arbitrary decision to ...
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