Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) contributions will increase for 2026 from April, following a decision by the scheme in October to defer these for three months.
This was due to the solvency position of the scheme – 32.6% at the end of December, which is substantially higher than the 25% required by law. It has been well above this level since 2019.
This year’s deferral is the fourth time increases have been delayed by DHMS; the others were in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as healthcare utilisation rates slowly recovered after the Covid-19 pandemic.
On average, contributions across DHMS plans will rise by 7.2% for the remainder of this year, with 65% of members experiencing a 6.9% increase and the balance seeing a 7.9% rise in contributions.
Discovery’s newest plan, Active Smart, which is designed for young professionals, sees no increase.
This plan, which it says is “the fastest growing plan in the market”, has helped slow the increase in the average age of members in the scheme.
Because of the deferred increase, this average weighted increase of 7.2% could actually arguably be seen as 5.4% across the year (given zero change in the first three months).
DHMS increases contributions
On average, DHMS has increased contributions by the second-lowest percentage among the seven largest schemes.
The increases at Momentum and Fedhealth are both in excess of 9.5%, with Fedhealth boasting that “just 9.6%” is “one of the lowest increases in years”.
Fedhealth has benefitted from additional scale following the take on of 7 800 Sanlam employees as part of its partnership with the insurer.
BestMed implemented a weighted average increase of 6.8%, which is the lowest among the seven largest schemes.
It says the contributions for some options will rise by “as little as 5.1%”. What it doesn’t say is that some will rise by as much as 7.8%. It does note that over the past five years, its principal membership has grown by 28%.
Medihelp says its weighted average contribution increase is 8.46% for 2026, with “most members seeing increases of 7.5% or less”. It explains that the baseline for medical inflation is CPI but that several additional layers, including tariffs, technology, demographics and utilisation, drive medical costs higher.
Medical inflation exceeds CPI
Typically, medical inflation is CPI plus between 4% and 6%.
Discovery has said that medical inflation typically exceeds CPI by 3% to 4%.
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) published a circular in September which recommended that schemes limit their contribution increases “to 3.3% plus reasonable utilisation estimates”.
It says it is concerned by the trend of annual medical scheme contribution rates consistently increasing at a higher rate than consumer inflation “as it places a significant financial burden on members of medical schemes”.
“Coupled with steep increases in the price of electricity and high food inflation, it is evident that most household budgets are significantly constrained,” it adds.
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