OPINION - Once again medical aid schemes have given doctors 3% and 4% increases in tariffs, as they have done before for the past 20 years, but member contributions have gone up on average by more than 8%.
Medical aid schemes need to be investigated in respect of expenditure related to:
1. Medical scheme offices in expensive realty areas.
2. Plush offices for executives.
3. Wasteful executive expenses related to:
flying business class.
lavish meeting venues with lavish catering.
driving very expensive cars.
These are all part of their perks, and the administration fees of medical aid schemes have all increased over time to the point where more is being paid in administration, even though things are now computerised and easy to process, than to doctors and other health-care providers.
Technology makes it easier to process claims online.
The paperwork has reduced and so has the administration, yet medical aid schemes are taking more and more administration fees.
This needs urgent inquiry, not just by the Competition Commission, but also an investigation by the health minister and the Council of Medical Aid Schemes, except that the latter is controlled and dominated by the medical schemes themselves and is a toothless body.