Average increase of 8.4% in Bestmed’s 2018 member contributions

Bestmed Medical Scheme, the fourth largest open medical scheme in South Africa, announced its average contribution increase of 8.4% for 2018 at its product launch hosted in all regions today.

“We have seen that the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been at an unwavering rate of 5.93% over the last 12 months. The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) uses the CPI as a benchmark for premium increases, therefore medical schemes trustees are obliged to justify increases exceeding CPI plus 3%. With that being the indicator of medical inflation, we can confirm that our increase of 8.4% is on par with the current average medical inflation corridor”, says Pieter van Zyl, Acting CEO of Bestmed.

The medical schemes industry continues to make a significant contribution in providing quality healthcare coverage to South Africans. As a self-administered scheme, Bestmed is able to keep its administrative costs at a minimum to ensure the largest portion of member contributions is paid towards healthcare costs to ensure they get more healthcare cover for every rand contributed.

“Furthermore, we have managed to maintain a solid solvency ratio that places us in good stead with reserves per member and this was achieved by our membership growth”, adds van Zyl.

"We believe that our efficiency as a member-owned administrator with a focus on wellness, as translated into our approach to encourage better health outcomes for members identified with certain risk factors, is starting to make a real difference”, said Chris Luyt, Marketing Executive Manager at Bestmed.

For this reason, Bestmed has launched its improved wellness offering, now called BetterMe, with additional health assessments included in the programme, that will benefit all members.

These additional assessments are aimed at identifying the risk areas of the whole family and not only those of adult members. By including these assessments, parents will be able to take note of their children’s health risks and take the necessary steps towards making changes to address these risk areas. The assessments include the following:

• Fitness assessments
• Nutritional assessments
• Occupational therapy assessments
• Baby growth assessments

Families participating in the BetterMe wellness offering will receive a detailed report that indicates their health status and/or their identified health risks with suitable interventions recommended to address the findings.

“It is important to highlight that the average percentage increase is not necessarily reflected in the rand amount paid towards subscription fees. A low percentage increase from a high-cost base can still result in a higher monthly subscription, compared to a higher increase from a low-cost base. Since Bestmed’s subscription fees have been increased from a low-cost base for over the past decade, the value increase in six of our thirteen benefit options will be below R150 per principal member per month in 2018, with a subscription increase below R100 per month per principal member in two of our options”, concludes Luyt.

Bestmed continues to prioritise the health of its members through its personalised and customer-centric service in line with ‘Personally Yours’.