This is exceptional if compared to the annual increases of most major medical schemes which were between 12% and 16.3%.

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According to Anton Rijnen, Executive Principal Officer of Medihelp, the well-being of the Scheme's members was the core reason for the lower than normal increases.

"The current economic conditions in South Africa create challenges for most people, especially if you take the affordability of most medical cover into account. For many people a medical aid has become a necessity, and with a lower dispensable income it is becoming increasingly difficult to afford," says Rijnen.

"The unaffordability of medical schemes was highlighted earlier this year at the Board of Healthcare Funders' Conference where the Minister of Health again said that it has become increasingly difficult for South Africans to belong to medical schemes. The Minister said that National Health Insurance is a priority policy for implementation which indicates that the healthcare industry as a whole is beginning to focus on driving costs down," says Rijnen.

The lower-than-usual increase can also be attributed to Medihelp's strong reserve level of more than R900 million and the fact that the Scheme showed a net surplus at the end of each financial year for the past five years, with its most recent surplus being R178 million at the end of 2007. The projected net surplus for 2008 is also at a healthy R170 million.

In addition, its solvency ratio was consistently higher than the 25% industry standard required by the Registrar for Medical Schemes. In 2007 the ratio was 30% and the projected ratio for the end of 2008 is 35.3%. Taking the 6.1% overall average increase into account, the projected solvency ratio for the end of 2009 is 30.96% which will still be well above the industry standard.

"Medihelp's strong financial position and a risk-based capital calculation by the leading actuarial firm, Deloitte, indicated that the Scheme could utilise a portion of its reserves to ensure a lower-than-usual average increase with minimum risk. More good news for members is that this was done without decreasing benefits. In fact, some benefits have been augmented or increased," says Rijnen.

Whilst retaining its seven benefit options from 2008, Medihelp has added benefits to its Dimension range regarding, amongst others, neck and back fusions, trauma recovery as well as preventative care for 2009. "By repackaging our preventative care benefits we are assisting members in the early diagnosis of potentially serious illnesses. Services offered include Pap tests, mammograms, prostate tests, cholesterol tests, blood sugar tests and HIV tests," says Rijnen.

The average per capita increase per option for 2009 is as follows:

Medihelp Plus: 10.1%
Dimension Elite: 5.0%
Dimension Prime 3: 2.4%
Dimension Prime 2: 0%
Dimension Prime 1: -5.1%
Necesse: 5.5%
Unify: 5%

"In addition, Medihelp as taken over the membership of a group of members of Renaissance Health Medical Scheme on 1 October 2008 and is on track with the process where OpenPlan will amalgamate with Medihelp at the end of this year," he says.

(Press release, Medihelp, November 2008)
 

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