The proposed 3.8% guideline for 2027 medical scheme contributionincreases will not make private healthcare more affordable without according to Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) managing director, Dr Katlego Mothudi. He questioned an additional utilisation adjustment, calling for deeper structural reforms and greater transparency from the Council for Medical Schemes. (CMS).
He said tariff reform has stalled since the Competition Commission’s 2019 Health Market Inquiry, with no platform for collective negotiations between schemes and providers. Mothudi also blamed delays on expectations that NHI would resolve the sector’s problems.
The BHF supports expanding low-cost benefit options to bring an estimated 8m to 10m people into the private risk pool, alongside mandatory membership and risk equalisation. It also wants prescribed minimum benefits (PMBs) reviewed, noting their share of scheme budgets has risen from about 40% to more than 60%. (Despite regulations requiring reviews every two years, PMBs have not been comprehensively reviewed for over 20 years.) – Moneyweb (30 September 2026)