About Us

BESTmed's Vision

BESTmed shall be trusted as the scheme of first choice to
access quality healthcare.

BESTmed's Mission

The Mission of BESTmed is to operate a non-profit mutual
medical scheme in terms of the Medical Schemes Act in a
financially responsible manner for the defrayal of its members’ health-care expenses by means of –

the optimal appropriation of members’ contributions and other income
the operation and administration of several benefit options and / or schemes
the striving for a balanced growth in membership
the rendering of health care services
negotiations with service providers for the supply of quality and cost-effective services.

Core values of strategic decision makers

In the execution of its Mission, BESTmed will pursue the interests of its members and participating employers –

by managing the affairs of the Scheme effectively on an innovative, ethical and moral basis
by maintaining good relations with all interest groups
in accordance with accepted commercial practices and economic norms
through the utilization of an expert, motivated corps of workers and appropriate technology.

Why choose BESTmed?

Why BESTmed is your BEST choice for peace of mind
The practical implementation of the regulations of the new Medical Schemes Act in January 2000 has made a permanent impact on the delivery of private health care services. A primary objective of the law is to make private health care more accessible to everyone, but this has a direct effect on the financial stability of all medical schemes and has necessitated the introduction of managed health care strategies. Effective management of medical expenses is our only means of ensuring that our members will enjoy peace of mind and personal wellbeing in the long term.

At BESTmed we have re-evaluated our focus and repositioned ourselves so that we can be quite sure of being able to meet all our members’ health care needs. Long term peace of mind depends on a number of critical factors, such as:–

Service excellence in the form of a non-negotiable guarantee that all our staff are committed to doing their best at all times.
Careful strategic planning which includes cost curbing measures, improved risk management and financial control.
Our members’ loyalty and their commitment to co-operating with us in respect of the successful application of managed health care principles, preventive care and cost containment.
The co-operation of service providers in risk sharing as part of our focus on developing low cost networks.

The fact that BESTmed is indeed your BEST choice for peace of mind is evident in four qualities
unique to BESTmed.

BESTmed offers security

The saying that ‘the only security you have, is the fact that there is no security at all’ does not apply to BESTmed. Our very existence is rooted in providing security, which is also our basic point of departure. The fact that as a mutual scheme, we operate on a non-profit basis and that the scheme therefore belongs to its members, is your warranty that we put your interests first.

BESTmed offers diversity

BESTmed offers you a choice of five different benefit options. These range from a traditional benefit structure linked to a savings account for day-to-day expenses to an option that offers new generation benefits. The unique structure of our savings plan ensures that there is no cross-subsidization of normal day-to-day expenses. All unused funds in your personal savings account are transferred to the next benefit year.

What makes BESTmed special?

Consider the following:

We have been in operation for more than 39 years, and we are now providing medical benefits to second-generation dependants who have opted to become principal members of our scheme.
We are currently providing health care cover to more than 70 000 lives.
We are one of the few schemes in South Africa that have succeeded in keeping our administration costs at below 6% of contribution fee income.
We are one of the fastest paying schemes in the industry.

BESTmed understands the human need to belong and prosper

As a mutual scheme BESTmed belongs to its members. Accordingly the Board of Trustees is democratically elected by members. Because members’ concerns come first, we regularly evaluate utilization patterns to ensure that we keep in touch with your health care needs, and we continuously monitor claim patterns so that we can speedily pinpoint changes that need to be made in the funding of health care.