Lifestyle

These are the most popular medical aid plans at Discovery, Bonitas and Momentum – and how much they cost

Staff Writer

 ·22 Oct 2021

The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has published its annual industry report, showing how South Africa’s registered medical schemes navigated the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the report, the CMS also give a breakdown of industry data across all medical schemes, including the number of beneficiaries attached to each medical scheme’s various plans.

South Africa now has 76 registered medical schemes – two fewer than in 2019 as a result of two mergers. These 76 schemes had a total subscription of 8.89 million beneficiaries in 2020, down from 8.99 million in 2019 – a year-on-year decrease of 1.15%.

The number of beneficiaries covered by restricted schemes grew by 45,525 beneficiaries, and the number of beneficiaries covered by open schemes declined by 148,752 beneficiaries between 2019 and 2020 – a net loss of 103,227 beneficiaries across all schemes.

Discovery remains the largest open medical scheme in the country, with 1.33 million members and 2.76 million beneficiaries. This is followed by the Bonitas Medical Fund with 333,141 members and 710,157. Momentum Medical Scheme is the third-largest open scheme with 152,228 members and 293,457 beneficiaries.

Across the three largest schemes, the mid- or standard-tier medical aid plans prove to be the most popular, the CMS data shows.

For Discovery, its Classic Saver plan is by far the most popular, with 680,000 beneficiaries (25%) attached to the plan. Half of all Discovery beneficiaries are on a Saver plan, which bundles in medical savings for a higher monthly contribution (a portion of the fee goes into savings). 1.37 million beneficiaries are attached to these types of plans.

The least subscribed-to type of plan is the top-tier Executive plan, which only has 8,240 members and 17,000 beneficiaries. The Classic Smart Comprehensive plan is the least popular overall, with 467 members and 958 beneficiaries.

After delaying the annual contribution increases for 2021 by six months to 1 July 2021, Discovery said that the annual contribution increases of 7.9% for 2022 will only be implemented from 1 May 2022.

The deferral of the increases for 2021 and 2022 means that members will have an actual effective increase in total contributions of 2.9% in 2021 and 5.3% during 2022.

Prices below are monthly contributions for principal members.

Discovery Medical Plans 2020

South Africa’s second-largest open scheme, Bonitas, has most of its members (%) on the Standard and Primary plans. These are simple plans that have day-to-day cover and hospital cover.

Similar to Discovery’s top-tier option, the BonComprehensive plan has the lowest beneficiary base.

In September, Bonitas announced a weighted average increase of 4.8% for its medical plans in 2022.  Increases will vary across the group’s packages, with the BonStart premium contribution fee decreasing by 7.9%. This can be attributed to the low cost versus benefits ratio and the younger membership profile on the plan, Bonitas said.

Bonitas Medical Plans 2020

Among Momentum’s members, the Custom option has proven to be the most popular. The plan provides cover for hospitalisation in private hospitals with no overall annual limit, giving customers an option to choose to have access to any hospital or choose to receive a discount on contributions by electing to use a specific list of private hospitals.

The premium Summit option is the least subscribed to.

Momentum announced in September that it would be freezing its fees until September 2022, so the prices below reflect what members will be paying for the first eight months of the year. Thereafter, a 6% fee hike will be implemented, it said.

Momentum Medical Plans 2020

Read: This is how many people left South Africa’s biggest medical aid schemes in the last year