Discovery Health, SA’s biggest medical-scheme administrator, says that savings from a huge drop in hospital claims during the national lockdown will not be enough to offset a surge in costs as the Covid-19 epidemic deepens.

Discovery Health administers 3.5-million of SA’s 8.9-million medical scheme members. It counts Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS), the biggest open scheme in the country, as one of its 19 clients...