Medical schemes accused racial bias against black healthcare providers

THE Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) has firmly rejected the long-awaited Section 59 report, which on Monday found positive and glaring alleged racial bias and discrimination by medical health schemes against black health professionals.

- SIYABONGA SITHOLE

Presented by panel chair Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, the report found systemic procedural unfairness and a deeply entrenched power imbalance that over the years has disproportionately and negatively impacted black medical professionals.

The inquiry commissioned by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), launched in 2019, scrutinised practices by medical aid schemes such as Discovery, Medscheme and the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) between 2012 and 2019.

“We confirm the findings and recommendations in the interim report, that the procedure followed by medical schemes when they claw back monies allegedly owed by practitioners or when they investigate instances of fraud, waste, and abuse is unfair,” said Ngcukaitobi.

Yesterday, Minister of Health Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, made the report public after receiving the investigation report on the findings of the inquiry conducted by the Section 59 Investigation Panel into allegations of racial discrimination by medical schemes.

The inquiry was launched after doctors and other practitioners accused medical aid administrators of unfairly targeting them with audits, delaying payments or terminating contracts without clear justification.