Traditionally, medical aid schemes implement fee increases from 1 January every year. However, the last two years have seen new trends emerge because of the Covid-19 pandemic, says Lee Callakoppen, principal officer of Bonitas Medical Fund.
These include deferral of increases, dipping into reserves to reduce increases, and announcing delayed increases above CPI, he said.
Callakoppen said that Bonitas opted to utilise around 3.2% – or R600 million – of the scheme’s reserves to help limit contribution increases to below CPI for around 82% of its members for 2022. However, despite the guidelines, several schemes opted to defer increases from January to later in the year. These deferred increases range from 5.5 to 7.9%, said Callakoppen.
Callakoppen said that the deferment of increases creates an anomaly for companies, medical scheme members and consumers. “This is compounded by the fact that when these deferred increases take place – they are often above CPI and do not always include an increase in benefits – so members effectively pay more for less.”The past year has shown that the actual contribution increases experienced by members, after the deferment period, is typically higher than the industry average, said Callakoppen.
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