Bomaid spends P100m in COVID-19 coverage
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday March 14, 2022 06:00
The chief executive officer, Moraki Mokgosana, however, stresses that the medical aid society’s finances remain sound and able to cater for members.
Questions were recently raised about the health of Bomaid’s finances after the company announced that its members would have to pay cash for services at Sidilega Private Hospital. The hospital said it had failed to finalise agreements over a financial settlement with Bomaid.
The two parties recently announced that the situation has been resolved and Bomaid members could continue receiving non-cash benefits at Sidilega.
Mokgosana said the pandemic was a blessing in disguise as Bomaid had been able to see how resilient its business is.
“Even though the money we have spent punched a hole in our pockets, it was not deep enough as we are still comfortable, stable and have enough resources and reserves to move forward into the foreseeable future,” he said.
Payments made by Bomaid under the COVID-19 cover include those for screening, home care services, hospitalisation, and drugs to mention a few. Through the medical aid, about 16,500 people were tested while 700 people were evacuated to facilities due to COVID-19 stress. Another 328 visited the hospital and 330 were hospitalised.
Moving forward, the CEO said Bomaid would continue with its policy that excludes unvaccinated people from the COVID-19 benefit, highlighting that this would reduce the risk to the medical aid society. Under the policy, Bomaid will not cover members who are eligible for vaccination but have not been vaccinated.
“We believe that vaccine generally slows down the impact of COVID-19 as scientifically proven,” Mokgosana said. “The more our clients vaccinate, the risk will definitely reduce and we will continue taking good care of you. “However, we have also learnt some people do not want to vaccinate but if there is no mitigation in terms of the customer stepping up to try and reduce the severity of COVID-19, let the customer keep the risk to themselves.
Bomaid has recently embarked on a transformative strategy, which is about moving the medical aid from the traditional way of doing business to promoting healthy living that delays and curbs the onset of illness, especially lifestyle diseases.