Premier Service Medical Aid Society (Psmas) has proposed to
increase member subscriptions by over 1 000 percent as the Zimbabwe dollar
continues to plummet against major currencies, including the United States (US)
dollar.
This comes as private medical practitioners and pharmacies
have begun demanding shortfalls and co-payments beyond the reach of many
long-suffering Zimbabweans, with some refusing to serve Psmas members.
Appearing before the Health and Child Care parliamentary
portfolio committee, Psmas group chief executive officer (CEO) Farai Muchena
said there was a need to allow the medical society to review its subscription
fees on a regular basis in order to remain viable in the obtaining
hyperinflationary environment.
“What we are saying here is that we need to have
subscriptions that will enable us to be viable given the hyperinflationary
environment that we are operating in. Currently, our subscriptions are not
matching the claims that we are receiving. This then results in us failing to
pay service providers, who in turn, start refusing to offer services to our
members.
“This also results in the issue of shortfalls and
co-payments that our members, the majority of whom are civil servants, are
being subjected to as they seek medical services,” Muchena said.
“We understand that our members are not earning that much;
their salaries are not increasing. However, even if the salaries are low, we
cannot hide from the challenges we are facing. What we need is a review of the
subscriptions to a point where we remain viable and are able to provide service
to our members. The amounts that we are proposing are an indication of the kind
of direction that we want to take,” he added.
Psmas last reviewed its subscription fees last year, which
saw adult dependents paying $45 on the main plan, $60 on the premium plan and
$75 on the pinnacle plan.
The medical aid society is now proposing that the
subscriptions be pegged using the US dollar or equivalent to action system
exchange rate, a move which will see adult dependants paying US$30 on the main
plan, US$60 on the premium plan and US$90 on the pinnacle plan or the
equivalent.
Psmas head of managed care Nickson Mapeza revealed that the
medical aid society was failing to pay its service providers due to the low
subscriptions.
“As Psmas, we have about 5 000 service providers and owing
to the low subscriptions, we have been delaying payments. By the time we pay,
the money will have lost value because of hyperinflation and this has affected
the relationship we have with service providers. Many pharmacies have opted out
because we were not paying them on time,” Mapeza said.
He added that owing to low subscriptions, some members with
chronic illnesses were exhausting their benefits before year-end, thereby
putting more pressure on the society.
“We have members on dialysis who exhaust their benefits
before year-end due to hyperinflation. For example, last year their benefits
were exhausted in August and this year they were exhausted in February. We then
use our reserves, which are running out, to ensure that they continue receiving
medical attention,” he said.
Meanwhile, parliamentarians called on Psmas to consider the
plight of pensioners and not increase subscription fees for them.
“We have pensioners who are receiving poor funds to such an
extent that they cannot afford the current subscription fees let alone the
proposed figures. It is important that when you come up with these figures you
consider this constituency and think about packages that are of a lesser fee,”
Chinhoyi’s member of Parliament Peter Mataruse said. Daily News
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