State casts medical aid net wider.

Byline: Tamar Kahn

State casts medical aid net wider Science and Health Editor CAPE TOWN The government's new medical scheme for civil servants has extended membership to people who were previously uninsured driving up the total number of medical scheme members by 5% in the 12 months to March this year. This is the first significant increase in insured lives in almost a decade, according to the Council for Medical Schemes.

The development is important because it means more people are insured against catastrophic health events.

Medical scheme membership stood at 7,48-million by March this year, according to the council's latest annual report, …