By Phephile Motau
Swazi Med is allegedly holding emaSwati at ransom by refusing them to join other medical aid schemes operating in the country.
The alleged anti-competitive behaviour of Swazi Med is not only affecting consumers, but also the other companies in the medical aid scheme industry. Because of the alleged conduct, the Eswatini Financial Times has established that other medical aid providers are struggling to penetrate the market due to alleged uncompetitive behaviour from Swazi Med.
Other industry players in the medical aid industry are Oracle Insurance Eswatini and Lidwala Health. Through our sources, we have reliably learnt that Swazi Med allegedly doesn’t allow companies to have double membership, with them and other industry players. It is alleged if a certain group of employees from a company decide to join another medical aid scheme, Swazi Med compels them to either stick with them or join the other medical aid player en mass.
According to a source who has worked with two companies in the industry, this has been going on for a while. He said a circular from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) issued in 2016 stipulates that if a company has 30 or more employees, they are free to choose a medical scheme of their choice and are not bound to be under one medical scheme.
“The company does not comply with that; they want all or nothing. They would rather have all the employees leave their scheme,” he said.
After getting wind of the alleged anticompetitive practice, the regulator, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FSRA) issued a notice in December 2018 stating that it was against the terms of the FSRA Act 2010 and an undesirable business practice for a medical scheme to offer medicalscheme services on condition that the employer undertook to exclusively utilise the services of that medical scheme/medical scheme provider. Members of the public who have concerns were advised to submit their complaints to the FSRA for necessary remedial action. Read More
