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Fin24 reports that the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has lost its high court bid to interdict Netcare and Discovery Health from selling prepaid doctor consultation vouchers to South Africans who cannot afford medical aid.
The CMS had previously directed the schemes to cease selling their vouchers, which were both launched in 2020. In the directive, the regulator said the two companies were conducting the business of medical schemes without the requisite approval. The companies appealed the directive as part of an internal CMS process. As the process unfolded, the CMS and the Registrar for Medical Schemes approached the North Gauteng High Court in July 2022, asking for an order that the companies be restrained from selling their prepaid vouchers. Judge Mandlenkosi Motha had to reckon with whether the CMS could bring an application "which is the subject matter of an internal appeal before the self-same council". He said in his 13 October ruling: "This court must decline the invitation to usurp the administration function of an organ of state. The applicants have failed to make out a case for exemption and their application is flawed. The matter must proceed before [an internal]… appeal and these applications must be dismissed." He also made a punitive cost order against the CMS and its registrar. Netcare and Discovery Health previously defended the vouchers as an innovative way to increase access to private healthcare for millions of South Africans who could not afford medical aid.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard compiled by Ahmed Areff at Fin24 (subscriber access only)
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