The Council for Medical Schemes is a statutory body established by the Medical Schemes Act (131 of 1998) to provide regulatory supervision of private health financing through medical schemes. The governance of the Council is vested in a board appointed by the Minister of Health, consisting of a Non-executive Chairman, Deputy Chairman and 13 members. The Executive Head of the Council is the Registrar, also appointed by the Minister in terms of the Medical Schemes Act. The Council determines overall policy, but day to day decisions and management of staff are the responsibility of the Registrar and the Executive Managers. The Council for Medical Schemes supervises a massive and very important industry: There are about 97 medical schemes in South Africa with around 8 469 784 beneficiaries. These schemes have a total annual contribution flow of about R84.9 billion.