{"id":602226,"date":"2022-07-01T12:48:38","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T10:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=602226"},"modified":"2022-07-01T12:48:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T10:48:38","slug":"the-bonitas-40th-birthday-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/602226\/the-bonitas-40th-birthday-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bonitas 40th birthday story"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>How it began<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For four decades, Bonitas Medical Fund has been providing affordable, quality healthcare to South Africans. Bonitas was launched in 1982 as a Medical Scheme for black civil servants and started with only 27 members, monthly contributions ranged from R1.60 to R9.60 per principal member!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonitas.co.za\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=July+2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Bonitas<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Scheme continued to grow its membership base &#8211; predominantly teachers, nurses and civil servants.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Growing up<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 1995, Bonitas became an open medical scheme, opening its doors to South Africans from all walks of life, growing to become the second largest medical scheme in the country<\/p>\n<p>Lee Callakoppen, Principal Officer of Bonitas says, \u201840 years on, we are proud to have over<\/p>\n<p>700 000 beneficiaries as part of the Fund.\u2019 The Scheme is committed to transformation of the healthcare industry and is in excellent financial health with over R6 billion in reserves.<\/p>\n<p>Over the four decades, Bonitas has evolved and expanded its capabilities in response to the changing healthcare needs of it growing membership base.<\/p>\n<p>The Fund has enjoyed several successes, concluding a host of amalgamations:\u00a0 Protector Health, BHP Billiton, Pro Sano, LMS Medical Fund and, most recently, Nedbank Medical Aid Scheme.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>The core business<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Our mantra is: \u2018The Medical Aid for South Africa\u2019 and this underpins all we do, including finding innovative solutions to help reduce the cost of private healthcare, without compromising on quality.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We put our members first when we negotiate rates and source reputable service providers. We do not believe in one-size-fits-all and adjust our wide range of benefit options annually, while keeping plans simple and user-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>How we do this<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Bonitas offers a total of 15 plans comprised of traditional, savings, hospital, edge (virtual), network and income-based plans. Each is simple and easy to understand, with a specific mix of benefits to appeal to various target markets.<\/p>\n<p>The Managed Care programmes include cover for chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, HIV\/AIDS, back and neck problems and mental health.<\/p>\n<p>This allows members to derive real value for money and stretch their benefits as far as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Our team of experts is always looking for innovative ways to ensure our members enjoy affordable, quality healthcare,\u2019 stresses Callalkoppen.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Whether it\u2019s keeping our fingers on the pulse of technology, managing our members care, identifying lifestyle diseases before they become chronic or negotiating preferred rates for our members.\u2019<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Our members<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Members are from all walks of life \u2013 they are go-getting entrepreneurs, SMMEs, chief executive officers, newlyweds, young couples with children, retirees and minimum wage earners &#8211; South Africans who need peace of mind when it comes to healthcare.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Accolades <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Bonitas has won some of the industry&#8217;s most prestigious awards including the \u2018Ask Afrika Orange Index Award for Service Excellence in 2020\/21\u2019 and the BHF Titanium Award for \u2018Operational Performance\u2019 this year.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><strong>Looking ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u2018The future of healthcare will revolve around preventative care and sustaining well-being, as opposed to responding to illness,\u2019 says Callakoppen.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It will see the healthcare industry being more agile, adapting to the ever-changing needs of all role players, through to the procurement of equipment, medicine supply management, use of day surgeries and acute hospitals as well as alternative reimbursement models.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Bonitas\u2019 priority remains making quality healthcare more accessible more affordable, while ensuring financial sustainability and longevity of the Scheme.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonitas.co.za\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_campaign=July+2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn more about Bonitas<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For four decades, Bonitas Medical Fund has been providing affordable, quality healthcare to South Africans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":602326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[12344],"class_list":["post-602226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-bonitas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602226","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\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":602332,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602226\/revisions\/602332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}