{"id":2058,"date":"2022-02-01T14:20:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing"},"modified":"2022-02-01T15:57:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:57:36","slug":"bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing","title":{"rendered":"BOMAID, PULA, BPOMAS investigated for collusion, price-fixing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Botswana\u2019s three biggest medical aid providers are being investigated for possible collusion and price fixing.<\/b><\/p>\n

In its 2020\/21 annual report, the Competition and Consumer Authority (CAA) revealed that it was investigating of allegations of possible abuse of dominance in the form of refusal of access to an essential facility and possible horizontal agreement through price fixing by Botswana Medical Aid Society (BOMAID), Pula Medical Aid (PULA) and Botswana Public Officers Medical Aid Scheme (BPOMAS).<\/p>\n

According to the report, the fresh allegations were filed by Botswana Dental Association (BODEA).<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter receiving a complaint from Botswana Dental Association (BODEA), the Authority initiated an investigation against BOMAID, Pula and BPOMAS and the investigation will be carried forward into the next financial year (2-21\/22,\u201d the Authority revealed.<\/p>\n

BPOMAS Chief Executive Officer Thulaganyo Molebatsi confirmed that his entity was aware of the complaint that was lodged by the Botswana Dental Association in respect of the issue of direct and indirect billing and preferred suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBPOMAS is aware of a preliminary inquiry made by the Competition and Consumer Authority in that respect. BPOMAS has co-operated fully with the Authority in respect of its inquiry at all relevant junctures,\u201d he said. Molebatsi added that BPOMAS respects the role of the Competition and Consumer Authority and its powers to make inquiries and carry out investigations in accordance with the powers vested to it under the competition Act no 4 of 2018.<\/p>\n

Other medical aid providers did not respond to Sunday Standard queries.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a related matter, the Authority said it was investigating a case of allegation of possible abuse of dominance by BOMAID. The alleged abuse of dominance behaviour relates to abuse of market power in the form of discriminatory pricing through the introduction of the tariffs system by BOMAID. According to the report, the allegation points to BOMAID\u2019s implementation of the two tariff system that is discriminative against Ekuselini (by paying it lower tariffs compared to other medical laboratories for similar services rendered).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other alleged conduct relates to the discriminatory price increments that BOMAID applies to Ekusileni. The allegation is that when it applies annual tariff adjustments for its service providers, BOMAID does not apply the tariff increase to the complainant. The third allegation points to the exclusive arrangement between BOMAID and Diagnofirm<\/p>\n

(with regards to BOMAID Managed Care Benefit Scheme). The investigation is still ongoing and will be carried forward to the 2021\/22 financial year,\u201d the report says. It has also emerged that CAA is also investigating a number of other medical aids in Botswana, following allegations of abuse of dominance.<\/p>\n

BOMAID on the other hand insists that it is a non-profit making society and therefore the Competition Act does not apply to its operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cBOMAID made an application to the High Court on 21st January 2021 for an order declaring that it is exempt from the application of the Competition Act and that section 31 of the Competition Act does not apply to its conduct. The Authority opposed the application on the basis that BOMAID is a profit-making entity. The matter is still pending before the High Court,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana\u2019s three biggest medical aid providers are being investigated for possible collusion and price fixing. In its 2020\/21 annual report, the Competition and Consumer Authority (CAA) revealed that it was investigating of allegations of possible abuse of dominance in the form of refusal of access to an essential facility and possible horizontal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5,8,13,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nBOMAID, PULA, BPOMAS investigated for collusion, price-fixing - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Botswana\u2019s three biggest medical aid providers are being investigated for possible collusion and price fixing. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BOMAID, PULA, BPOMAS investigated for collusion, price-fixing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Botswana\u2019s three biggest medical aid providers are being investigated for possible collusion and price fixing. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-01T14:20:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-01T15:57:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/02\/img-61f9585a46745.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"464\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"BOMAID, PULA, BPOMAS investigated for collusion, price-fixing\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-01T14:20:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-01T15:57:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/02\/img-61f9585a46745.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"Social\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/bomaid-pula-bpomas-investigated-for-collusion-price-fixing\",\"name\":\"BOMAID, PULA, BPOMAS investigated for collusion, price-fixing - 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