An Alberton mom has won a significant court battle against her medical scheme, forcing it to pay for an expensive drug that her three-year-old son needs to treat a rare inherited genetic disorder. […]
Discovery Health has launched an urgent application to stop the Road Accident Fund (RAF) from rejecting valid medical claims submitted by members of medical schemes. Discovery contends that the RAF Act does not […]
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) was engaged in discussions with seven schemes to consider options for members of Health Squared, which intends to apply for voluntary liquidation on 1 September. In a […]
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has applied to the High Court in Pretoria to overturn the moratorium that effectively prohibits medical schemes from providing low-cost benefit options (LCBOs) to South Africans who […]
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has recommended that contribution increases for 2023 should be limited to 5.7%, in line with the South African Reserve Bank’s projected average inflation rate for next year. […]
The Department of Health’s timeline for the full implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) was “years to decades”, Dr Nicholas Crisp, the deputy director general in the department responsible for the implementation of […]
Bestmed, Fedhealth and Medshield have had the highest average annual contribution increases among the top open medical schemes over the past 15 years, according to Alexander Forbes Health’s 2021/22 Medical Aid Insights. Read: […]
The membership of South African medical schemes was resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic despite rising unemployment and the slowdown in economic growth, according to the latest Alexforbes Sustainability Index. Membership of the analysed […]
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says the government plans to implement National Health Insurance (NHI) incrementally and gradually phase out the role medical schemes play in funding private healthcare services, according to reports […]
There is a particularly apt old African saying: When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In his opening address at the 2022 Board of Healthcare Funders annual conference, the Minister of […]
The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF), a representative association for medical schemes, has applied for an exemption from provisions of the Competition Act so that it can publish a scale of benefits after […]
Members of Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) will be able to elect to have their health plan administered in accordance with Shari’ah principles from 1 June. It said South Africa’s first Shari’ah-compliant medical […]
The FAIS Ombud this week issued a media release encouraging medical scheme members to lodge a complaint with her office if they believe they have been “financially prejudiced” by a healthcare broker’s advice. […]
A payroll tax and a surcharge on personal income tax will be considered as additional sources of funding for National Health Insurance (NHI) once the necessary reforms “are ready”, the Department of Health’s […]
The Minister of Health has approved an increase of slightly more than 4% in the maximum monthly fee payable to healthcare brokers. From 1 January, the maximum fee for introducing a member to […]
Five medical schemes – including Discovery, the country’s biggest by number of beneficiaries – paid commissions to brokers above the industry average last year, according to the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) annual […]
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) recently announced the approval of an increase in the maximum amount payable to brokers in terms of Section 65 of the Medical Schemes Act (131 of 1998). […]
