Medical aid can be a huge expense for South African consumers therefore it is important to see how the costs of medical aids compare to each other. Picture: Rawpixel.com/Freepik
Momentum Medical Scheme has announced that it will implement an annual contribution adjustment of 9.4% for 2025 while Discovery Health Medical Scheme will be increasing contributions for 2025 by a weighted average increase of 9.3%.
Discovery and Momentum are just two of the top five leading medical aid schemes in South Africa, according to a 2024 report by the Council for Medical Schemes.
Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) and Bonitas Medical Fund also feature in the top five leading medical aid schemes list.
Discovery, which offers 22 plans across seven categories, has 1.36 million members and 2.8 million beneficiaries.
Momentum is the third largest medical aid scheme with 156,044 members and 296,119 beneficiaries. The medical aid offers 35 plans across six scheme categories.
Bonitas which has 730,000 members offers 15 plans across five scheme categories.
GEMS is a restricted medical scheme designed to meet the healthcare needs of government employees. It has six healthcare option and more than 800,000 main members and 2 million beneficiaries.
Here is a look at the cost of a basic and top level medical aid plan between Discovery, Bonitas, GEMS and Momentum.
| Name of medical aid | Basic medical aid plan | Cost of basic level plan | Top level medical aid plan | Cost of top level plan |
| Discovery | Keycare series | from R1,102 | Executive | from R10,303 |
| Bonitas | BonStart | from R1,378pm | BonComprehensive | from R9,853 |
| Momentum | Evolve | from R541 | Summit | from R13,573 |
| GEMS | Tanzanite One | from R1,363 pm | Onyx | from R6,162 |
There is often the misconception that medical aid and health insurance are the same thing, however, they are completely different.
Craig Comrie, CEO, Profmed said: “People need to seriously consider the implications and understand the difference between health insurance and medical aid.”
According to Comrie, one of the key distinctions between health insurance and medical schemes is their ownership structure which drives motives behind these healthcare products.
Comrie said that medical schemes are owned by members and dedicated to servicing their healthcare needs while offering them built-in protections.
Health insurance products are operated by insurers who may prioritise profit motives and have shareholders who require a return on their investment, according to Comrie. These disparities can lead to differences in coverage, benefits and differences in care.
IOL Business