DiscoveryBonitasMomentumBestmedMedihelpMedshieldFedhealthSizweHosmedKeyhealthCompcareGEMSPOLMEDBankmedLA-HealthPlatinumHealthSAMWUMEDProfmedSasolmedUmvuzoNedgroup

The top 10 open medical schemes in 2021 include Compcare due to the merger between Sizwe and Hosmed. The top 10 restricted medical schemes by principal membership and ranking have remained unchanged in 2021. However, it is worth noting that Nedgroup amalgamated with Bonitas Medical Fund with effect from January 2022.

Six of the open schemes and seven of the restricted schemes considered here experienced positive growth in 2021, with the rest experiencing a reduction in membership. For open medical schemes, Sizwe experienced the largest increase in principal membership of 35.8%, which resulted from the merger with Hosmed. Compcare experienced the largest decrease in principal membership of 8.1%, while Fedhealth experienced the largest decrease in dependants of 10.9%. For closed medical schemes, Umvuzo experienced the largest increase in principal membership of 17.7%, while Nedgroup experienced the largest decrease in principal membership of 5.5%.

The number of beneficiaries with medical scheme cover increased by 0.5% in 2021. GEMS was the major driver, with an increase of 72 345 beneficiaries over the year.

The number of principal and beneficiary lives covered increased by 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively. This results in the average family size in the industry decreasing from 2.21 to 2.20 from 2020 to 2021. This is consistent with the decline observed each year since 2000, except for 2020. This may be a reversal of the anti-selection observed in 2020 as members were less likely to need medical attention for Covid-19-related conditions as a result of the vaccine rollout and later strains of the virus causing less serious health issues.