An industry association has forced the medical schemes regulator to revoke Discovery’s permission to sell cheap primary health-care products, throwing a spanner in the life and health insurer’s plans to expand this part of its business.

While still a very small contributor to Discovery’s revenue stream, the number of lives covered by its primary care products has soared in the past two years, and so the recent ruling against it by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) appeal board is a blow...