This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.BusinessTech reports that medical aid scheme Bonitas has announced price increases for 2026, averaging 8.8% across its plans. According to Lee Callakoppen, principal officer of Bonitas Medical Fund, certain “strategic options” will see increases below this level to improve accessibility.
Bonitas is the second largest open medical scheme in the country after Discovery and supports over 730,000 beneficiaries. The average 8.8% increase for Bonitas packages comes in much higher than the recommended increases from the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS). The CMS published a circular last month recommending that medical schemes limit their contribution increases for 2026 to inflation at 3.3% plus “reasonable utilisation estimates”.
In its latest circular, the council noted that private medical inflation usually exceeded CPI by 2 to 3 percentage points. Thus, the “reasonable” increase for 2026 would be anywhere between 5.4% and 6.8%. Medical aid contribution increases in 2025 averaged 10.1%, against inflation of 3%. This was up from an already high 10.3% average increase in 2024. Year after year, medical aids justify the huge increases to packages by blaming medical care inflation – which outpaces headline inflation – as well as other contributing factors.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at BusinessTech
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