THE medical aid industry remains divided as attempts to reconcile differences between Discovery Health and the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) have failed. Five other schemes left the BHF together with the country's biggest medical aid scheme about two years ago because they did not see eye to eye with the industry body on a number of issues. One of those issues is said to be the BHF's position on the proposed national health insurance. Discovery deputy chief executive Jonathan Broomberg said that unfortunately, despite several meetings and intensive efforts to resolve these issues, the task team was not able to agree on mutually acceptable solutions to the various problems that led several schemes and administrators to leave the BHF in the first place. For this reason, he said, Discovery and, as far as he knew, all other schemes that left the BHF, were not intending to rejoin the BHF at this stage. BHF spokeswoman Heidi Kruger said one of the issues in contention, that the organisation's articles of association did not allow for administrators to become members, had since been resolved. She said that members of the BHF decided that, in the interest of pursuing the ideal of one industry body, the articles of association should be amended to allow for administrator organisations to be full members of the BHF. This process was completed and several administrators had now joined the BHF. Kruger said the five other schemes that had quit the BHF were Quantum, Altron, Anglovaal, Tsogo Sun and AECI, which are all administered by Discovery Health. She said, however, that they did not specifically cite the Discovery resignation as their reason for leaving. There were one or two other schemes that resigned due to mergers and financial reasons. Kruger said the BHF had embarked on an aggressive membership outreach drive in order to encourage these schemes back into the fold. A spokesperson for AECI Medical Aid Society said at the time that it resigned from the BHF that it was because the trustees believed there was no value added for the members' benefit. The society has not ruled out rejoining the BHF. Broomberg said that when Discovery left the BHF, a working group was set up to represent schemes and administrators that were dissatisfied with the BHF. Not formally constituted, it was loosely termed the Private Funders Forum. He said that at this stage, there was no formal organisation as the Private Funders Forum. However, a large number of schemes and administrators remain dissatisfied with the approach taken by the BHF to several key policy issues, and these organisations continued to meet.

Slindile Khanyile: Business Report, 10 May 2010