
CMS explains why it rejected GEMS’s bid to lower contribution increase
The CMS argues that a 7.5% increase would have weakened GEMS’s financial sustainability and shifted costs to members in future.

The CMS argues that a 7.5% increase would have weakened GEMS’s financial sustainability and shifted costs to members in future.

The regulator says it is monitoring the situation and sees signs of improvement, but some members continue to report difficulties accessing healthcare and resolving claims.

Sanlam’s Benchmark report argues that improving member outcomes increasingly depends on linking financial advice, healthcare, and risk benefits.

The regulator has rejected the scheme’s proposal to reduce its weighted average contribution adjustment to 7.5%, leaving the existing 9.5% increase in place.

A review of five years of Medihelp’s annual reports traces the events behind the scheme’s fall below and its rise back above the statutory minimum.

Twelve months after reporting a solvency ratio of just 20.99%, Medihelp returned above the statutory threshold while almost nine-folding its operating surplus.

Membership, claims, reserves, and solvency all point to a strong year, but they also reveal the long-term pressures facing the scheme.

DHMS improved its solvency, surplus and principal membership, but an ageing risk pool, fewer beneficiaries, and a claims-system error tempered the year’s progress.

The ruling preserves a key anti-fraud tool that industry bodies say protects member funds and helps contain healthcare costs.

New findings suggest emotional well-being now plays a growing role in whether patients with diabetes, cancer, and heart disease stay stable and out of hospital.

Discovery’s data shows how prevention, screening, and co-ordinated care can extend lives – while raising difficult questions about how to replicate those gains more widely.

Discovery Health’s analysis of 2.7 million medical scheme members shows how earlier intervention, better treatment, and healthier lifestyles are reshaping life expectancy.

Twenty years of industry data show that medical schemes have become increasingly dependent on scale, investment returns, and strong reserves to remain sustainable.

Medscheme says it repeatedly warned Bonitas against a ‘clean-cut’ transition and disputes the scheme’s claim that unresolved legacy issues were behind the service disruptions experienced by members after the administration switch.

The medical scheme says legacy issues contributed to post-transition challenges as members report delays with hospital authorisations and medication approvals.

Shrinking younger membership is intensifying an ageing risk pool, pushing contributions higher even when hospital use is flat.

The scheme says continuity of care remains the priority as it moves administration to Momentum Health and managed care to PHA on 1 June.