Laura du Preez: Personal Finance

Patrick Masobe, the Registrar of Medical Schemes, has turned down 41 percent of the benefit option changes that open medical schemes have submitted to him and has warned members to "exercise caution" when signing up for an option for next year.He says you should check with your scheme that the 2007 rules and contributions of the option you are joining have been approved.According to a circular released by the registrar this week, five of Oxygen's options were not approved. One was a new option about which insufficient information had been submitted, but four existing options were not approved because the options were "unsustainable, despite the above-average increases of the last few years".However, James van Vught, the principal officer of Oxygen, says the registrar's office did not raise the viability of these options as a problem in a letter it sent the scheme.

Instead, the letter informed the scheme that the four options had not been approved because the contribution increases were unfair to members, Van Vught says.Masobe's office has been expecting schemes to justify contribution increases that exceed the inflation rate plus three percentage points.
Oxygen's increases were higher than this level, but the registrar's letter did not acknowledge the fact that Oxygen has significantly increased the day-to-day benefits on these options, Van Vught says. He says the options have sufficient members to be viable.

The circular shows that a number of schemes have been asked to review contribution increases or changes on their options, because these appear to be unfair to members. This was the case for two options each on Medshield, Pro Sano and Spectramed.None of the 13 options on Discovery Health Medical Scheme was approved on the grounds that they did not conform to the Medical Schemes Act with regard to prescribed minimum benefits (the benefits all schemes must provide).

Seven of Momentum Health's options were not approved for the same reason. Discovery was also told to review its contribution increases on some options.Approval of two of Bonitas's five options were declined - one because of contribution increases and the other for a lack of information. Approval of all of Fedhealth's options was denied because of problems with their day-to-day benefits.