Zimbabwe: Health insurers owe private doctors US$220 mln
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jul 2016
Private doctors in Zimbabwe are reportedly refusing to treat medical aid patients starting 1 July due to health insurance companies owing them US$220 million.
According to the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZiMA), patients on health insurance schemes will be referred to government hospitals if they are not prepared to pay in cash for treatments.
The Association has been forced to take the decision after accusing medical aid funders of not paying on time, ignoring gazetted medical tariffs and often paying less money than that claimed by the service providers, said media reports.
To make matters worse, the private doctors were also forced to pay taxes on funds they had not received, the reports added.
The southern African nation has more than 20 registered health insurers serving about 800,000 members, said the reports citing figures from the Association of Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ), which represents health insurance firms.
Over the past 19 months, ZiMA has met with the AHFoZ and other authorities including the Health Ministry to try and resolve the dispute but not much progress has been made.