Netwerk24 reports that the financial position of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) is much healthier than a year ago when there had been great concern over its money matters.
As with other schemes last year, GEMS experienced a sharp increase in hospital claims, which it reckoned was a result of all the new hospitals that opened. This led to the scheme’s solvency ratio falling sharply. The target for this year is to reach a ratio of 8.2% after a ratio of 7% was achieved at the end of 2016. Dr Guni Goolab, chief officer, said the target would be easily reached and the scheme’s reserves would end the year in double figures. Hospital admissions were 4% down over the period January to September 2017 in comparisons with the same period last year. According to GEMS, the lower rate is as a result of the stricter protocols for hospitalization and also the deployment of case officers to hospitals, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal where admissions had seen a sharp rise. (Loosely translated from Afrikaans)
- Read this report by Nellie Brand-Jonker in full at Netwerk24 (limit on access)
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