The Competition Commission has imposed a total of Rs11 million as fine on seven insurance companies after it found two agreements between members of the Association of Private Health Plans and Administrators (APHPA) pertaining to medical insurances and medical schemes, were collusive, therefore in breach of the Competition Act 2007.
The agreements found in breach of the Act are:
1) agreement among members of the APHPA on a common scale of cost in so far that it concerns inpatient gynecological treatments; and
2) agreement among certain members of the APHPA on a common policy pertaining to reimbursement of overseas treatment.
Consequently, these agreements among the members of the APHPA were terminated.
The Commission noted that all parties to the investigation reportedly “applied for leniency” and collaborated with the Competition Commission.
“This in turn facilitated the investigation and the applicants benefited from a reduction in fines,” it ruled.
Hence, the Competition Commission imposed financial penalties to:
- Swan General Ltd (Rs6,773,680)
- Mauritius Union Assurance Co. Ltd (Rs2,553,092)
- Eagle Insurance Ltd (Rs803,404)
- SICOM General Insurance (Rs435,175)
- Jubilee Insurance (Mauritius) Ltd (Rs333,966)
- Medscheme (Mtius) Ltd (Rs318,395)
- Linkham Services Ltd (Rs45,485)
Explaining the decision, CCM Executive Director, Deshmuk Kowlessur, remarked that private health expenditure represents more than 50% of total health expenditure.
“Medical insurance/scheme in turn is important in ensuring that patients get access to private medical facilities when required. So is competition among the providers,” he said.
“It must be ensured that private medical insurance/scheme providers supply the best services for the benefit of insured patients. Collusive agreements among insurers may reduce such competition and thus be detrimental to insured patients,” he added.
