The Council for Medical Schemes says medical schemes can apply for exemptions to the Medical Schemes Act to launch lifelines for members.The medical schemes regulator says it will temporarily relax rules to allow the industry to implement measures aimed at retaining members in the face of Covid-19, which threatens the affordability of cover for employers and consumers.
Medical schemes face a host of unexpected risks triggered by the pandemic, ranging from a claims spike to plummeting investment income driven by the turmoil on financial markets, which saw equity markets plunge 24% in the first quarter of 2020. But their biggest worry is how to hold on to members, as companies and individuals grapple with the economic fallout of the lockdown and the growing threat of retrenchments.
“The biggest uncertainty facing medical schemes is the possibility that jobs may be lost and the number of beneficiaries reduced in an anti-selective fashion,” he said, referring to young and healthy members being the first who would opt out.Christoff Raath