Medical aid schemes customer satisfaction levels were mostly on the rise, according to the findings of the consultancy group Consulta's latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for the industry.
Included in the survey were Bestmed, Bonitas, Discovery and Medihelp, with the Government Employers Medical Scheme (GEMS) being the only closed medical scheme included in the survey.
Results showed that the overall industry is starting to recover from some turbulent years, dominated by the pandemic, reports BusinessTech. All schemes, apart from Bonitas, showed an increase in customer satisfaction scores, compared with 2021/22.
Maintaining its position as the country’s leader is Bestmed, with a satisfaction score of 78.6, above industry par (75.0). Discovery (74.2) and Medihelp (75.2) come in on industry par.
Bonitas (71.8) and GEMS (72.1) are below par on overall customer satisfaction.
Consulta said there has been a slight bounce back for medical aids for the first time since 2019. “But medical schemes are not yet out of the woods. After last year’s dramatic drop to a six-year low, the industry has some ground to recover,” it said.
While medical schemes, on the whole, showed the first decrease in complaints in five years, the incidence of complaints in 2022 is high at 15% compared with the international best practice score, which is below 10%, it said.
Abigail Boikhutso, group chief executive at Consulta, said that, essentially, the industry has levelled back to “ground zero”.
“During the pandemic, medical schemes were in a difficult and unsettled period, and job and financial security were in the balance. So consumer price tolerance was low and requirements may not have been perceived to have been met by members.
“Now that we’ve come through the worst, there’s a slight increase in perceived value.”
Boikhutso noted, however, that the benchmark is low.
“The strongest gauge in the Customer Satisfaction Index Model is ‘Customer Expectation’ because it measures customer anticipation of the quality of a company’s service. This includes non-experiential information like advertising and word of mouth, as well as a forecast of the company’s ability to deliver quality in the future.
“The 2022 study shows that the industry is normalising back to the relevant range of between 80.1-82.2.”
This range contrasts with the high 2020 industry expectation of 85.0, she added, which could be linked to the pandemic as customers expected more from their medical aid schemes to assist them during that period.
Only Bestmed and Discovery exceeded the industry benchmark in 2022.
Customer loyalty
• Bestmed has the most loyal customers at 72.7% and is above industry par of 67.1%, up from its 2021 score of 65.7%.
• GEMS follows at 70%, well up from its 2021 score of 61.1%.
• Bonitas (63.2%) falls slightly from its 2021 score of 64.3%, while Medihelp (68.1%) has improved, with customer loyalty measuring above the industry par.
• Discovery (66.8%) remains fairly static from (66.4%) in 2021, and falls just below industry par on loyalty.
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South African medical schemes: the biggest winners and losers in 2020