Dines Gihwala, one of the curators of Medicover 2000, the medical scheme placed into curatorship earlier this year, would seek to recover more than R75 million from reinsurance and other deals the previous management of the medical scheme entered into.
Medicover had already been offered about R12 million from one reinsurance company but was still holding out to receive the full amount owed to it, which has been calculated at just over R15million, Gihwala said yesterday. Gihwala would not elaborate on the nature of the claims until the litigation process had run its course.
"The use of reinsurance by medical schemes should be outlawed. If the income and membership contributions are managed properly and provided there is a reasonable membership base there is no need for a medical scheme to be reinsured," Gihwala said.
"Reinsurers would only take on risk on the basis that it would make a profit. These funds should rather be kept in the scheme rather than transferred out through the payment of kickbacks, commissions or profit-sharing agreements," he said.
According to unaudited figures, the solvency of Medicover has surged to about 64 percent since curatorship, which is a significant increase over the past eight months. Solvency could leap to well over 100 percent should the medical scheme be successful in its litigation, he said.
Reserves in the scheme, which has more than 28 000 members, have increased by almost R90 million to close on R200 million.
Administration costs had also been slashed to about 2,6 percent from more than 17 percent prior to curatorship, which also includes an average salary increase of 46 percent, he added.
The turnaround in the business came about despite an orchestrated campaign by some staff and others to discredit the curatorship.
Staff sentiment towards the curatorship, however, had been reversed. Sandi Banks, the scheme`s membership manager, said the atmosphere had changed for the better since the curatorship.
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