BusinessLive reports that a small medical scheme called Thebemed has been placed under provisional curatorship by the Gauteng High Court over concerns about its financial viability. This followed an application by the medical schemes regulator.
Its solvency ratio had plummeted to an all-time low of 4.2% by the end of March, a far cry from the 25% required by the Medical Schemes Act. A scheme’s solvency level is the ratio of its accumulated funds to its annualised contribution income, and the 25% threshold is intended to ensure that schemes have enough money in reserve to cover a sudden or unexpected surge in medical claims. Thebemed is an open fund and had 23,511 beneficiaries at the end of 2017, according to the most recent Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) annual report. Thebemed has until 10 September to oppose the application. “The respondent’s failure to comply with the solvency ratio places its members at risk of not having their claims paid,” said CMS registrar Sipho Kabane. Meantime, the registrar has approved the amalgamation of CompCare and Selfmed medical schemes, which will take effect on 1 September. Selfmed will be absorbed into CompCare.
- Read the full original of the above report by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive
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