News South Africa

Medical aid trustees paid R28-million

Trustees in ten of South Africa's medical scheme earned R28-million last year and the regulating authority, the Council for Medical Schemes says it has seen a "concerning trend" as trustee payments continue to rise.

Times Live quotes Stephen Mmati, head of compliance at the council as saying that the bulk of the money spent by medical aids should go to healthcare as these schemes are not-for-profit entities.

According to the council's annual report, Liberty Medical Scheme spent R4,5-million on its trustees in 2010 given the 11 members an average remuneration of R412 000 each.

Spectramed paid its five trustees a total of R1,7-million, more than double the amount spent in 2009 and a note in Spectramed's financial statements commented that "members present at the AGM concluded that the trustees are under-remunerated".

The Sunday Times reported last week that an employee at a medical aid administration company, David Tselapedi - who was placed under correctional supervision after pleading guilty to fraud - was expected to blow the whistle on fraud in medical aid schemes.

Apparently some trustees are allegedly taking bribes to allow people to loot medical aid funds.

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