About Us
The Council for Medical Schemes is a statutory body established by the Medical Schemes Act (131 of 1998) to provide regulatory supervision of private health financing through medical schemes.

The governance of the Council is vested in a board appointed by the Minister of Health, consisting of a Non-executive Chairman, Deputy Chairman and 13 members. The Executive Head of the Council is the Registrar, also appointed by the Minister in terms of the Medical Schemes Act. The Council determines overall policy, but day to day decisions and management of staff are the responsibility of the Registrar and the Executive Managers.

The Council for Medical Schemes supervises a massive and very important industry: There are about 87 medical schemes in South Africa with around 8 776 279 beneficiaries. These schemes have a total annual contribution flow of about R129.8 billion.

Role of the council

The Medical Schemes Act gives the Council a number of Statutory Objectives including:

•To protect the interests of medical schemes and their members;
•To monitor the solvency and financial soundness of medical schemes;
•To control and co-ordinate the functioning of medical schemes in a manner that is complementary with the national health policy;
•To investigate complaints and settle disputes in relation to the affairs of medical schemes;
•To collect and disseminates information about private health care in South Africa
•To make rules (that are in line with the Medical Schemes Act) with regard to its own functions and powers; and
•To make recommendations to the Minister of Health on criteria for the measurement of quality and outcomes of the relevant health services provided for by medical schemes.

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