Masm membership declines 11%
Medical Aid Society of Malawi (Masm) registered a decline in membership from 125 474 in 2011 to 111 110 at the close of the year in December 2012, but the body is hopeful the situation will change in 2013 with the economic recovery projections.
Masm board chairperson Evans Matabwa, speaking at the society’s 29th annual general meeting also observed that the general economic challenges in the past year impacted on the business as among other things, some members were not making their contributions.
“We noticed that contributions were not forthcoming. Understandably, people’s priorities could not accommodate contributions. As Masm, we took two steps; the first one was not to revise the rates almost immediately. We persisted through the devaluation and depreciation up to the end. We did not want to pass that on to the members immediately, so that gave us a knock.
“We also did not rush to delist the members that were not contributing. Most of them went and accessed medical treatment on the understanding that they are our members and are in problems. We had to use our resources to ensure that the system continues to the advantage of the membership,” said Matabwa.
The society also bemoaned the fraudulent acts of some medical practitioners who inflate their claims when they send them to Masm.
“These are usually conspiracies between the patient and the medical practitioner. We have dealt with those issues internally by bringing in systems that will check that. We have also roped in the photo identity system whereby if your card doesn’t carry your face, then you won’t be assisted. This is also an attempt to deal with issues of fraud,” he said.
Despite the challenges, the society registered a 25 percent growth in contribution revenue to K3.96 billion (about $9.9m) from K3.18 billion in 2011. This culminated into a net surplus of K135 million (about $337 500) compared to K33 million (about $82 500) in 2011 representing surplus growth of 309 percent.
According to the chairman however, the result was affected by the performance of subsidiary companies especially the medi clinics which despite registering 72 percent growth in revenue from K390 million (about $975 000) to K669 million (about $1.6m), registered a net loss of K345 million.
He indicated that the society would take its focus back to health insurance going forward as this is their core business and it is where the membership comes from.
The meeting also approved a hike in chairman’s fees from K608 000 to K730 000 annually; K663 000, up from K552 000 for the deputy chairman and K584 000 from K486 000 for the directors.
