R561.6 million still owed in Post Office medical aid payments
11 May 2023
In another hard-hitting question to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, the DA has exposed that despite 6 months passing since the last follow-up, barely a dent has been made in paying the outstanding medical aid contributions to Medipos, which the South African Post Office (SAPO) owes to its employees.
R561.7 million is still outstanding in medical aid contributions – despite all deductions already being taken off from employees’ pay slips. Worryingly, this is only the historical debt meaning that this does not even include the current monthly payments that need to be made to maintain cover.
The devastating effect of this is that 12 715 principal members are left without proper medical cover in the event of any medical emergency or life-threatening accident. What is even more shocking is that this number includes 1740 pensioners – a particularly vulnerable group of people who often need chronic medication to manage pain or conditions, and they are now forced to dip into what little pension they have to cover their own medication.
In the last 7 months, medical aids have been suspended in every single month at some point between October 2022 and March 2023. It is truly a travesty.