{"id":205466,"date":"2017-10-17T18:30:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T16:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=205466"},"modified":"2017-10-19T13:35:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T11:35:30","slug":"the-biggest-medical-aid-schemes-in-south-africa-and-how-much-theyre-charging-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/205466\/the-biggest-medical-aid-schemes-in-south-africa-and-how-much-theyre-charging-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest medical aid schemes in South Africa – and how much they’re charging in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The majority of South Africa’s biggest medical aid schemes have released their prices for 2018, showing below 10% increases across all plans.<\/p>\n

According to the latest statistics released by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS)<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0there are currently 82 medical aid schemes operating in South Africa with a total subscription of just under 8.9 million members as at December 2016.<\/p>\n

Discovery remains the largest medical aid scheme in the country, with over 2.7 million members.<\/p>\n

This is followed by the\u00a0Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) with 1.8 million members, and the Bonitas Medical Fund, with just under 680,000 members.<\/p>\n

Due to the nature of medical aids, and how each scheme is structured to cater for different hospital networks and cover different medical needs, it’s incredibly difficult to compare like for like, especially on price.<\/p>\n

However, with all medical aids now releasing their contribution structures for 2018, the tables below outline the price changes among the biggest* (open) schemes for next year.<\/p>\n

The biggest medical aid schemes in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scheme<\/th>\nMembers<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Discovery<\/td>\n2 707 000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GEMS<\/td>\n1 801 000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bonitas<\/td>\n676 785<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
PolMed<\/td>\n497 130<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Momentum Health<\/td>\n257 370<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BankMed<\/td>\n214 305<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BestMed<\/td>\n200 400<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MediHelp<\/td>\n195 860<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MedShield<\/td>\n153 415<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LA-Health<\/td>\n147 780<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

For 2018, medical aids have mostly kept their rate increases within range of the medical aid industry inflation rate (inflation plus 3%), with few plans going over the 9% estimate.<\/p>\n

Discovery’s rates have been hiked at an average of 7.9%, and Bonitas at an average of 8.7%.<\/p>\n

Momentum Health is yet to publish its pricing for 2018, but has announced that prices for its medical aid plans will be hiked by an average of 8.3% in 2018.<\/p>\n

In 2017, medical aids were forced to hike rates by over 10%, following a rise in medical costs and an increase in the number of fraudulent claims.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade and half, the average year-on-year increase of medical scheme contributions has been 7.6% – almost 2 percentage points higher than CPI, on the basis of rising medical costs.<\/p>\n

Discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scheme<\/th>\n2017 Cost for principle member<\/th>\n2018 Cost for principle member<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Executive<\/td>\nR5 544<\/td>\nR5 950<\/td>\n7.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Classic Comprehensive<\/td>\nR4 506<\/td>\nR4 882<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Essential Comprehensive<\/td>\nR3 787<\/td>\nR4 102<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Classic Priority<\/td>\nR2 968<\/td>\nR3 214<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Essential Priority<\/td>\nR2 551<\/td>\nR2 763<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Classic Saver<\/td>\nR2 577<\/td>\nR2 773<\/td>\n7.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Essential Saver<\/td>\nR2 047<\/td>\nR2 203<\/td>\n7.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Classic Smart<\/td>\nR1 535<\/td>\nR1 647<\/td>\n7.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Essential Smart<\/td>\nR1 100<\/td>\nR1 180<\/td>\n7.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Classic Core<\/td>\nR1 918<\/td>\nR2 064<\/td>\n7.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Essential Core<\/td>\nR1 648<\/td>\nR1 773<\/td>\n7.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
KeyCare Plus<\/td>\nR914 – R1 906<\/td>\nR990 – R2 064<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
KeyCare Access<\/td>\nR644 – R1 863<\/td>\nR697 – R2 018<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
KeyCare Core<\/td>\nR731 – R1 408<\/td>\nR792 – R1 525<\/td>\n8.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Bonitas<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scheme<\/th>\n2017 Cost for principle member<\/th>\n2018 Cost for principle member<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
BonComprehensive<\/td>\nR 5 254<\/td>\nR5 774<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BonClassic<\/td>\nR3 648<\/td>\nR4 009<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BonComplete<\/td>\nR2 923<\/td>\nR3 212<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BonSave<\/td>\nR2 135<\/td>\nR2 304<\/td>\n7.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BonFit<\/td>\nR1 789<\/td>\nR1 930<\/td>\n7.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
BonEssential<\/td>\nR1 473<\/td>\nR1 604<\/td>\n8.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Standard<\/td>\nR2 998<\/td>\nR3 265<\/td>\n8.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Standard Select<\/td>\nR2 597<\/td>\nR2 828<\/td>\n8.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Primary<\/td>\nR1 924<\/td>\nR2 076<\/td>\n7.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hospital Plus<\/td>\nR2 636<\/td>\nR2 897<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hospital Standard<\/td>\nR1 665<\/td>\nR1 830<\/td>\n9.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BestMed<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scheme<\/th>\n2017 Cost for principle member<\/th>\n2018 Cost for principle member<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Pace 4<\/td>\nR6 096<\/td>\nR6 608<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pace 3<\/td>\nR5 097<\/td>\nR5 370<\/td>\n5.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pace 2<\/td>\nR4 315<\/td>\nR4 667<\/td>\n8.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pace 1<\/td>\nR3 055<\/td>\nR3 312<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pulse 2<\/td>\nR4 365<\/td>\nR4 732<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pulse 1<\/td>\nR1 823<\/td>\nR1 976<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beat 4<\/td>\nR3 618<\/td>\nR3 922<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beat 3<\/td>\nR2 359<\/td>\nR2 558<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beat 2<\/td>\nR1 554<\/td>\nR1 685<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beat 1<\/td>\nR1 257<\/td>\nR1 363<\/td>\n8.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MediHelp<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scheme<\/th>\n2017 Cost for principle member<\/th>\n2018 Cost for principle member<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimension Elite<\/td>\nR3972<\/td>\nR4272<\/td>\n7.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimension Prime 3<\/td>\nR2730<\/td>\nR2940<\/td>\n7.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimension Prime 2<\/td>\nR2136<\/td>\nR2310<\/td>\n8.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimension Prime 1<\/td>\nR1608<\/td>\nR1728<\/td>\n7.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Unify<\/td>\nR1944<\/td>\nR2088<\/td>\n7.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Necesse<\/td>\nR438 – R1932<\/td>\nR474 – R2076<\/td>\n7.4% – 8.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

* Momentum Health is yet to release its prices for 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Read:\u00a0Medical aid tax credits to be phased out within the coming months: report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The majority of South Africa’s biggest medical aid schemes have released their prices for 2018, showing below 10% increases across all plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":96741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205466"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206322,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205466\/revisions\/206322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}