Your medical scheme is making killer profits
WRONG
Let’s take a look at Discovery, South Africa’s largest medical scheme, with more than 3,3 million beneficiaries at the end of 2022. If you read the business news regularly, you’ll know that the profits of Discovery Health (Pty) Ltd run into billions. But that is not the medical scheme; it’s the financial services provider. It’s all a bit confusing, isn’t it? The thing is, medical schemes are not for profit. Some do their administration themselves while others outsource it. Besides Discovery Health, other companies that administer medical schemes but are separate from them include Metropolitan Health Corporate, Medscheme Holdings and Momentum Medical Scheme Administrators. Medical schemes are, however, required by law to be “financially sound”. This means they have to be able to honour the benefits they offer members, which are laid out in their rules. (Did you ever read those? You should have been given a free copy detailing your rights and obligations when you joined.) Schemes are tightly regulated by the Medical Schemes Act and must register with the
