In this Business Talk with Michael Avery interview, Deon Kotze explains how Discovery Health is focused on innovation as a means to ensure South Africans can access affordable, quality healthcare.
Kotze is the CCO of Discovery Health, and has been with Discovery for nearly 16 years.
He started out with the company as an actuary, before being promoted to Head of Discovery Health, Vitality, and Discovery Card Technical Marketing in 2012.
Kotze has since led several other areas of the Discovery business, including the Health Research and Development department and the R&D Lab, before taking on the role of Chief Product Officer for Discovery Health in 2023.
After serving in this role for a year, he was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer for Discovery Health – the role he holds to this day.
Before working at Discovery, Kotze was an actuarial analyst for several major companies, including Deloitte South Africa and Absa Group.
With his strong, demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry, Kotze prides himself on his ability to lead complex projects.
He is also an associate of the Institute of Actuaries, and has his Bachelor’s Degree focused in Actuarial Science.
The interview
In this Business Talk interview, Kotze unpacks Discovery Health’s recent announcement of a weighted average increase of 7.2% for 2026 – including what goes into determining these increases.
He then discusses the fact that Discovery Health will be deferring the contribution increases to April 2026, and explains how Discovery Health is able to offer this kind of flexibility to its customers.
Kotze then discusses the new benefits and innovations members can expect in 2026, as well as the introduction of new and improved plans – such as the new Smart Saver series, and the fact that the Active Smart plan will receive no increases at all.
After revealing how these plans fill gaps in he market, and adapt to changing member needs, Kotze concludes the discussion by revealing how Discovery Health is positioning itself to simultaneously retain existing members while attracting new ones.
Watch the full interview with Deon Kotze, below.
