Insurance companies selling low-cost benefit options that the medical aid regulator wants scrapped next year say what should be done instead is to fix alleged deficiencies and bring rogue players to book.
The Council for Medical Scheme (CMS) issued a circular in December, saying that these primary health products, aimed at low-income earners, will not be allowed beyond 2021. It wants them gone because some offer “inferior benefits” and send their members to state facilities without entering into the necessary agreements with public hospitals to which consumers are sent, said the regulator.