/ 25 January 2008

Minister conducts meetings over private healthcare fees

Most private hospital groups will maintain their tariff increases at the consumer inflation rate, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday.

Speaking after a meeting with the Board of Healthcare Founders (BHF) at the Southern Sun Hotel near OR Tambo International Airport, Tshabalala-Msimang said the Department of Health had met with several private hospital groups over the past week, who had committed to review their tariff increases.

”Some agreements have been made. We haven’t finished the exercise, there are still more groups we have to meet,” she said.

She said two private hospital groups had already lowered their tariffs but she could not be drawn into naming them.

The breakthrough in the past week followed a meeting Tshabalala-Msimang held on January 11 with private hospital groups’ chief executives, after which they undertook to reconsider their tariff increases.

In a meeting with the BHF, principal officers of various medical schemes on Friday expressed concern that most schemes had increased their contribution above inflation.

The increases range between 9% and 15%.

”The medical schemes have also committed to an in-principle decision to review their tariff increases and align them with CPIX [consumer inflation less mortgage costs] for those schemes whose 2008 increases are higher,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.

Another meeting was scheduled to be convened within two weeks for the schemes to give a progress report on these reviews.

Tshabalala-Msimang said the department would continue to work with all clients in the private health industry to reduce costs.

South Africa’s current consumer price index, excluding interest rates on mortgage bonds, is 7,9%. — Sapa