ABOUT THE SCHEME
The Story Behind Discovery Health
Discovery Health Medical Scheme was founded in 1992, originally as part of the Momentum Group and funded by FNB/RMB. It was RMB that provided both the seed funding and the life insurance licence that allowed Discovery Health to get off the ground. Momentum Group retained its shareholding in Discovery Health until 2013, when it transferred its stake to FNB for R740 million.
Discovery's early years also marked a turning point in how medical schemes in South Africa were structured. The launch of what became known as the "New Generation Plans" shifted the industry away from traditional plan structures — a change that fundamentally reshaped how members access and pay for healthcare cover.
QUICK FACTS
Founded
Beneficiaries
Open Scheme
Number of Plans
Average Member Age
Administrator
Closed Schemes
Total Lives
1992
2.7 million (across 20 schemes)
Largest open scheme in SA
25
37.6
Discovery Health (Pty) Ltd
19
3.5 million across all schemes
HISTORY
Controversy, Reinsurance and a Near-Collapse
In Discovery Health's early years, the scheme relied heavily on reinsurance to cover major risk events — things like cancer diagnoses and heart attacks. This reinsurance arrangement drew intense regulatory scrutiny, and by 2001 the controversy had escalated to the point where the Council for Medical Schemes declared Discovery Health technically insolvent.
The scheme recovered, but the episode raised an important question that members should still understand today: when reinsurance claims are paid out, the money goes to the administrators — not to the medical scheme itself. This means the benefit flows to Discovery Health (Pty) Ltd, the administrator, and not directly to the members of the scheme.
VITALITY
Where Vitality Really Comes From
Few people know that the Vitality programme has its roots in Momentum Health. It was Momentum that originally administered the auxiliary products for Discovery Health, and in 1997 they integrated the health plans with a Health and Racquet Club offering — the foundation of what became Vitality as South Africans know it today.
This history explains why the Momentum Multiply programme looks so similar to Vitality. The key difference is that Discovery's Vitality integrates across all of its products — medical aid, life insurance, investments and short-term insurance — in a way that Multiply currently does not replicate.