The proposed increases of between nine and ten percent by private hospitals, as well as even higher increases for theatre costs, saw the Registrar of medical schemes as well as the Minister of Health taking them to task. The involvement by the officials appears to stem from pressure being applied by the private hospitals on medical schemes to accept these rates.
What alarms me about this is that the increases stem from the loss the hospitals will suffer as a result of no longer being able to pocket discounts received from certain product providers while charging their clients, you and me, the full price.
This reminds me very much of issues such as "bulking", the reduction of commission on investment products and other seemingly innocent practices we had to contend with in the financial services industry of late.
The hospitals appear to be amazed that anyone could question their efforts to simply retain their profit margins by passing the potential loss on to the client in a different format, knowing full well that for most medical schemes clients the alternative of visiting a provincial hospital is simply not acceptable.
There can be little doubt that this action by the Registrar will have have improved his image substantially in the healthcare industry. As far as the private hospital groups are concerned, I am afraid that they have overstepped the mark.
In cricketing terms they may have been no-balled this time, but their bowling action will be under far more scrutiny than ever before, and rightly so. What may have been an attempt to curb a relatively small loss may come back to bite them for a long time in the future.
Paul Kruger - Moonstone