Fedhealth moves up a notch
The latest figures provided by the Council for Medical Schemes show that following a sustained period of growth, Fedhealth medical scheme is now in fourth place among the big five open schemes. In 2007 it moved into fifth position ahead of Spectramed in terms of membership numbers and last year it overtook Oxygen which had held the fourth spot. In 2008 Fedhealth showed a membership growth of 6.1% while Oxygen showed a negative growth in membership of -11.9%.
As of 31 December, the three schemes ahead of Fedhealth are Discovery with 865 433 principal members, Bonitas (258 910) and Medihelp (96 996). The membership growth of these three schemes last year was 3.7%, 10.2% and -1.9% respectively.
Peter Jordaan, Principal Officer of Fedhealth, says that Fedhealth is successfully riding out the difficult recessionary conditions and the inroads that the recently established Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) have made in the industry. “A dynamic marketing and recruitment drive has seen the private market (non-government employees) rising from under 50% of total membership to 62%,” says Jordaan. There was a net growth in membership of 2 386 in the first seven months of this year. At 30 July the number of principal members stood at 87 259 and there were 102 469 dependants, giving a total of 189 728 beneficiaries.
Jordaan says Fedhealth has been given an AA- rating for the past two years by Global Credit Ratings. This rating defines a “very high” claims paying ability, with strong protection factors, and modest risk that may vary slightly over time due to economic and/or underwriting conditions. Among the open schemes, only Discovery has the highest AA rating.
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