After years of financial difficulties, MediPos, the medical aid provider for SA Post Office (Sapo) employees, is to be placed under curatorship, after an order secured by the Council for Medical Schemes from the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria).
On numerous occasions, Sapo has failed to pay staff medical aid contributions to the medical aid provider on time. In October last year, it was ordered to pay R4.5m in contributions to MediPos by the Labour Court after litigation by Solidarity. By November, it again failed to pay contributions.
The curatorship comes as Sapo attempts to cut salary spending, including through job cuts, reports TimesLIVE.
Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger said it had been looking to end the “in-house” provision of medical aid benefits to employees and wanted to give them the freedom to choose their own providers.
He said that although post-retirement medical aid benefits were stopped in 2005, the liability of those who were already in the system was high and only grew after they added beneficiaries over the years.
“Over the past 11 years, Sapo has covered these post-retirement medical aid benefits to the tune of R1.3nn. This liability has to be removed from the balance sheet, hence the buy out process (cash amounts offered to the holder to stop the medical aid) has started,” he said.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Medipos threatens to cut SAPO medical aid over R700m debt
Post Office medical aid settlement agreement reached, says Solidarity
Post Office workers and pensioners face loss of medical aid cover