Guardrisk wins another battle for consumers
31 May 2008

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Registrar of Medical Schemes and CMS's (Council for Medical Schemes) appeal against Guardrisk's recent victory in the Supreme Court "bears no prospects of success", and has dismissed the application with costs. This despite the fact that the registrar and CMS presented many new arguments in making their appeal to the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court order upholds the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that Guardrisk?s Admed products, which cover the short-fall between doctors? in-hospital charges and medical aid rates, do not fall within the scope of the Medical Schemes Act, as contended by the Registrar and the CMS.

"Our products have been scrutinised all the way through the country's legal system, culminating in the Constitutional Court -the highest court in the land - providing definitive clarity of the relevant laws and certainty for our clients," says Herman Schoeman, MD of Guardrisk.

Schoeman says that while he is pleased with the ruling, he is not surprised; "it has never been our intention to get into medical schemes? space and we were confident all along that our product was a properly constructed and perfectly legal insurance product which enhanced, rather than competed with, medical schemes." After all, purchasers of Admed products must already be members of a registered medical scheme.

"We believe that there is a definite need for our product in the South African market and, with the unfounded legal challenges behind us now, we can continue to serve the best interests of our clients."

Issued on behalf of:
Herman Schoeman, Managing Director of Guardrisk
Tel: +27 11 669-1001 (direct) / +27 82 376 3821

Prepared by:
Melanie Davis, PR at Work
Tel: +27 11 615-3309 / +27 83 225 7450

Distributed by:
Beachhead Media & Investor Relations (Stuart Meyer)
+27 11 214 2401 / +27 83 618 7260