Netwerk24 reports that the medical scheme for public servants, the Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gems), is still after nine years not compliant with the reserve requirements laid down in terms of the Medical Schemes Act.  

Schemes have to hold in reserve 25% of the premiums receivable in a year from members, but at the end of December last year Gems only held 9.5%, down from 10% in the previous year.  This was due to various challenges in 2015, most importantly being the resignations of members because they couldn’t afford the premiums and the fact that the claims rate was still higher than the industry average.  Against a target of 716,000, the number of Gems principal members dropped by 13,000 (1.9%) to 674,673.  Together with dependents, Gems now has 1.78m members against the 2m it had targeted.  The number of complaints received from members last year increased by 62% to 20,424.  Most of them related to payment of claims.  Amongst the complaints was that the premium increase was well above consumer inflation.

• Read this report by Nellie Brand-Jonker in full in Afrikaans at Netwerk24 (paywall)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page