Slow but steady rise

After years of oscillating around 7m, the medical aid industry is experiencing impressive growth with a rise in the number of medically insured people being boosted by the Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gems).

The latest quarterly report by the Council for Medical Schemes shows the medical aid population grew 4% to 7,4m during the three-month period ended September 2007. These members paid R48,3bn in contributions with R6,6bn going towards nonhealth care. For the third quarter ended 2006, the covered population was almost 7,1m, up from 6,8m. Since starting in January 2006, Gems has signed up more than 630 000 members and, in the process, become the country's fastest-growing scheme. According to Gems principal officer Eugene Watson, the Pretoria-based entity has grown by 450% in the past 18 months.

Though the emergence of Gems has whittled down many established players, Watson says around half the organisation's membership is drawn from previously uninsured civil servants, pensioners and their dependants. During the three-month period ended September, the overall industry average solvency mark fell 6,5% to 35,4%, but it's still much higher than the 25% statutory minimum allowed.