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HomeWeekly RoundupDiscovery sets aside funding to provide COVID-19 vaccine to 2m members

Discovery sets aside funding to provide COVID-19 vaccine to 2m members

Discovery Health says funding has been set aside for 2m of its members to get the vaccine as it throws its weight behind a national effort to source a cost-effective supplier.  Bonitas and Momentum have also announced that vaccine costs for members would be covered and the country's medical insurers as well as business are working on a programme to help uninsured South Africans receive a vaccination when it become available.

Business Day quotes chief commercial officer at Discovery Health Dr Ronald Whelan as saying that Discovery is working through a lot of data on the efficacy of various vaccines, especially as new variants of the coronavirus are found, while others await peer-reviewed clinical trials and regulatory body approvals around the world, he said. "There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of uncertainty at the moment," he said.

Discovery Health Medical Scheme has already approved funding for its members, so as soon as the vaccine is available in South Africa those members will have access to that vaccine.’

Business Day quotes him further as saying the vaccine would have to be suitable for the South African environment, with the logistical and storage constraints taken into consideration, particularly for vaccines that have to be stored in ultra-cold conditions and present almost insurmountable problems in South Africa, and some other countries.

"We do like, from a cold-chain perspective, the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, given that they are generally stored in standard vaccine fridges or, in some cases, at room temperature," Whelan said, adding a single-dose vaccine was preferred to a double-dose one.

The report says Discovery is working closely with other private-sector players, as well as the government, to ensure there is a national rollout of a vaccine at the same time rather than favouring medical aid scheme members.

 

According to a report in The Mercury available to subscribers, two other medical aid schemes have said the cost of COVID-19 vaccines will be covered for members and beneficiaries. The medical schemes were commenting after the government’s vaccine roll-out strategy was unveiled by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Sunday.

Mkhize also said that the government had embarked on public-private partnerships with good outcomes and had approached medical aids to be part of the co-financing.

The report quotes Bonitas Medical Fund as saying it would ensure that vaccines for COVID-19 were funded as a key priority for members and beneficiaries. “The scheme is financially stable and sound, thus we have set aside funds to ensure that we can cover COVID-19 vaccines for our members – in line with specific prioritisation criteria,” said Bonitas spokesperson Lee Callakoppen. Callakoppen said the fund remained open to engaging and collaborating with public and private stakeholders to secure a vaccine.

Damian McHugh, executive head for marketing at Momentum Health Solutions, said the costs of the vaccines would be covered by the medical schemes as part of an expanded prescribed minimum benefits offering.

However, McHugh said each medical scheme would have their own methodology in covering the costs of the vaccines, as the costs for each vaccine would vary.

The Mercury reports that other medical schemes, which were contacted for comment yesterday, said they would only be able to comment later this week.

 

McHugh, said in Daily Maverick the company had participated in conversations over the last two weeks about procuring vaccines “to ensure that we provide more health to more South Africans for less”.

McHugh said it was important for the private and public sectors to work together to provide equal access to vaccines, particularly to high-risk groups.

While some stakeholders were tight-lipped about how the plan might unfold as discussions in the Vaccination Acquisition Task Team, which is made up of members of the public and private sectors and reports directly to Mkhize, Discovery Health CEO Dr Ryan Noach offered some details.

“Medical schemes have agreed to support a pricing arrangement for the vaccines, which ensures that a surplus is generated by the schemes’ purchases of the vaccines, that can be used to cross-subsidise higher risk non-medical-scheme members, on a one-for-one basis, ie, for each vaccine procured for a medical scheme member, sufficient surplus is generated through procurement arrangements for the vaccine to subsidise the vaccination of one non-medical scheme member,” he said.

A recent amendment to the Medical Schemes Act has made vaccination for COVID-19 a prescribed minimum benefit, meaning it’s mandatory for medical schemes to provide the jab.

Noach said the proposed approach to pricing “is not unusual, considering that many medicines are sold at a higher single exit price (SEP) to the private healthcare sector than to the public health sector”.

Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are expected to submit applications to the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for approval by the end of January.

Noach, who said Discovery had been in regular contact with manufacturers “for some time”, said the Vaccination Acquisition Task Team “has been working tirelessly to finalise funding of vaccines for all South Africans and to secure supply of vaccine from global manufacturers as soon as possible”.

“In relation to this, there is extensive work under way to agree commercial and supply terms with several vaccine manufacturers globally.”

 

Bloomberg reports that South African medical-insurance companies, business organisations and the government are developing a programme in which the private sector will help fund COVID-19 vaccines for people not covered by insurance. Legislation has been amended to allow the companies to fund shots for people who don’t have medical insurance and talks are now focused on the number of those who may benefit, said Stavros Nicolaou, head of the Health Workgroup for B4SA, a grouping of South Africa’s biggest business organisations. In addition to medical insurers, companies such as miners may contribute funds so their workers can be covered, he said.

Business is also trying to accelerate the arrival of vaccines in the country, Nicolaou said.

“We need to change the public narrative,” he said. “How do you, if at all, accelerate the timing?”

 

[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/health/sa-expects-its-first-covid-19-vaccines-only-after-march-2021/"]Full Business Day report (Subscription Required)[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-01-06-medical-aid-schemes-back-collaborative-national-effort-on-vaccine-funding/"]Full Daily Maverick report[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-04/south-african-insurers-may-fund-vaccines-for-broader-population"]Full Bloomberg report[/link]

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