MEDICAL AID

The Council for Medical Schemes has recommended that medical scheme contribution increases for

2023 should be capped at 5.7%. This is based on the expected CPI inflation rate for 2023 provided by the Reserve Bank. Paresh Prema, health branch head, technical and actuarial consulting solutions at Alexforbes, says: “The recent past has changed the way medical schemes have considered contribution increases when balancing inflation and affordability. We believe the challenge going into 2023 is to ensure that increases are sufficient to cover the increase in the cost of providing benefits to members, which may in part be due to the pent-up demand resulting from the pandemic. This would have to be balanced with setting rates at a level that would still be affordable for members.”