Medical Aid News South Africa

Medical aids - alleged racket exposed

A huge corruption scandal may be exposed after the Hawks raided Hosmed and Commed (Community Medical Aid Scheme) amid allegations that independent trustees had colluded with officials from the Council for Medical Schemes to swindle medical aid members.

The Sunday Times says it has copies of the search warrants and an affidavit by Lieutenant-Colonel Gezina Lottering containing allegedly damning evidence against officials of the Council for Medical Schemes.

The newspaper claims that the administration company Allcare - controlling the interests of 135 000 members - is also implicated in the investigation. It says that David Tsalapedi, a whistleblower who was fired by Allcare, accused Raato Mogajane - Commed's former chairman - of demanding a bribe of R50 000 from Allcare to ensure that it retained Commed's business.

Allcare's chief executive, Howard Phillips told the Sunday Times that "absolutely nothing improper" had happened at his company, adding that if there was fraud, it was at the medical aid schemes. He says that Tsalapedi was fired for "dishonesty".

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