The medical schemes regulator has rejected a proposed merger between South Africa’s third biggest medical scheme, Momentum Health, and a small scheme restricted to the South African employees of the British oil and gas company BP.
According to a Business Day report, it is an unusual development, as the medical schemes industry is consolidating and has seen the number of schemes steadily shrink from 93 to 80 from 2012-2018.
The report says the mergers driving this trend generally go through the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) without a hitch: in 2017 Momentum merged with Metropolitan, and the University of the Witwatersrand Medical Fund amalgamated with Discovery Health Medical Scheme; in 2018 Compcare merged with Selfmed, and earlier in August the regulator approved the amalgamation of Fedhealth and TopMed.
[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/healthcare/2019-08-05-bp-medical-aid-merger-with-momentum-turned-down-by-regulator/"]Business Day report[/link]