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