Discovery inks Bankmed deal

Discovery Health lands the administration and managed care services contract for the Bankmed Medical Scheme.

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Johannesburg - Discovery Health has landed the administration and managed care services contract for the Bankmed Medical Scheme.

The deal is set to come into effect from January next year, Discovery said in a statement to shareholders.

It did not disclose the value of the deal, but noted its annual results will be published on Thursday.

Bankmed was established in 1914 as a closed scheme for the South African banking industry and has around 100 000 principal members from SA’s financial institutions.

This, it notes on its website, translates into providing close to 200 000 South Africans with access to “quality” healthcare services.

The medical scheme makes the point that it is only one of two such schemes with an AA+ credit rating. The only other scheme with this rating, the highest possible, is Discovery Health.

Discovery Health Medical Scheme claims to be South Africa’s largest and most stable medical scheme “by far”.

It has more than 2.6 million members and more than R11 billion in reserves.

In the six months to December, its parent company - Discovery Limited - reported normalised profit from operations of R2.8 billion, a 19 percent gain, while normalised headline earnings gained 20 percent to R2 billion.

IOL