Tamar Kahn
Science and Health Editor, Business Day 6 January 2006
CAPE TOWN — Early signs are that the new Government Employees Medical Scheme (Gems) has elicited strong interest from public servants considering joining up, says the scheme’s principal officer, Eugene Watson.
Gems is intended to make medical scheme membership more affordable, and provide cover for SA’s 380000 public servants and their families who are not members of medical schemes.
Gems is expected to drive consolidation in the medical schemes industry, and so its first steps are being keenly watched by rivals and associated businesses.
Gems, launched officially on January 1, began accepting membership applications at the beginning of December, and has so far signed up 200 new members, half of whom were not previously members of a medical scheme.
Gems' call centre had received more than 2000 queries from public servants in the past month, had more than 51 000 hits on its website, and was getting up to 100 e-mail inquiries a day, said Watson.
Government is no longer planning to switch all public servants over to Gems in a “big bang�, and is instead phasing in the new scheme. Watson declined to comment on Gems' initial targets.
No collective bargaining deal on Gems had yet been reached between the public service and administration department and unions, but this would not affect operations, said department spokesman Clayson Monyela.
Public Service Association (PSA) spokesman Manie de Clerq confirmed this position. He said unions had succeeded last year in persuading government to soften its initial plans to make Gems compulsory for all public servants. Membership of Gems would be mandatory for public servants joining the public service after January 1, but people employed before this date could choose whether to join the scheme, he said. If public servants joined Gems they would not be allowed to switch to other medical schemes at a later stage, the PSA spokesman said.
Among the issues still under discussion with government were unions’ wish for representation on Gems board of trustees, but this was prohibited by the Medical Schemes Act, which says only scheme members can be board members, said Monyela.
De Clerq said the PSA was not convinced that Gems offered value for money to low-wage earners. Public servants who did not belong to medical schemes paid income-related fees at public hospitals. If they were members of Gems they would pay slightly more money, and would still have to queue at state facilities, he said. The state pays two-thirds of public servants’ medical scheme membership fees, capped at R1014 a month.
Government hopes Gems will ultimately bring an extra 1-million beneficiaries into the medical scheme market, which has stagnated at the 7-million mark for the past several years.
Gems offers its members five different benefit options, named after precious stones. The cheapest options send members to public hospitals if they require hospitalisation.
