Fedhealth is Fourth

September 18 - Fedhealth, the South African medical scheme, is showing signs of strong growth, despite the difficult economic conditions and the unsure future faced by health funds in the country.

According to statistics released by the Council for Medical Schemes, Fedhealth medical fund has shifted from fifth position to fourth among the top five schemes in South Africa.

In 2007, Fedhealth occupied fifth spot and, due to significant membership growth and a sound policy, managed to overtake Oxygen which held the fourth for some time.

Spectramed now occupied fifth spot.

The Council for Medical Schemes showed that while other companies were showing negative growth, Fedhealth managed to grow membership by 6.1% last year.

This was in comparison, for example, to Oxygen which showed a negative growth rate of -11.9%.

The Principal Officer of Fedhealth, Peter Jordaan said: "A dynamic marketing and recruitment drive has seen the private market (non government employees) rising from under 50% of total membership to 62%."

All in all, according to the latest statistics, Fedhealth now covers 189,728 South Africans - 87,259 principal contributors and another 102,469 beneficiaries.

In the first seven months of the year, nearly 2,400 new principal members joined the Fedhealth medical scheme.

The top five health schemes in South Africa are now as follows:

1. Discover
2. Bonitas
3. Medihelp
4. Fedhealth
5. Spectramed