WMJ 05 2011 - World Medical Association

Public Health
SOUTH AFRICA
% of insured
17%
17%
16%
16%
15%
15%
14%
14%
13%
14% 14%
14%
15%
16%
16%
6.7 6.7 6.8 7.1 7.5 7.9 8.1
39.7 39.9 40.1 40.3 40.4 40.8 41.2
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Insured Uninsured % of insured
45
40
16%
Figure 3. The Medical scheme coverage.
Source: Graph generated by the author and background data sourced from Statistics
South Africa and CMS report, 2010
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Insured and uninsured (Millions)
ince. The Gauteng province took up 37% of
8.1 million covered lives , followed by the
Western Cape Province and third was the
Kwa-Zulu Natal which takes up 15%, only
9% of 8.1 covered lives were from the the
Eastern Cape. Similarly to the 2% of the
8.1 million lives who were residents in the
Northern Cape [6].
Within province analysis revealed that 29%
of the population that reside in Gauteng
has private health insurance, only 26% of
the population that reside in Western Cape
province had medical cover, it is of interest
to note that within province like Northern
Cape 16% of the population has medical
cover, this relatively higher than the Kwa-
Zulu Natal where only 12% of the population
had private medical cover, similarly
to the Mpumalanga province 15% of the
population in the province belonged to a
medical scheme.
% of insured per province
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
37%
16% 15%
9%
7%
5% 5% 4%
2%
29% 26% 12% 9% 15% 12% 12% 6% 16%
Gauteng
Western Cape
Kwa-Zulu Natal
Eastern Cape
Mpumalanga
North West
Free State
Limpopo
Northen Cape
% of insured within province % of insured per province
Figure 4. Distribution covered 1 lives by province.
Source: (CMS, 2009; Statistics South Africa, 2009)
1 Covered refers to people belonging to medical scheme
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
% of insured within province
The characteristics presented in this section
highlighted unequal socio-economic
conditions at provincial levels, in particular
the Eastern Cape and the Limpopo province
where more than nearly 90% of the
residents in those provinces did not have
medical cover [6]. The GHS by Statistics
South Africa in 2009, respondents were
asked to respond to a question as to why
they do not belong to a medical scheme
[32].The survey reported that 90.0% of
households that do not belong to a medical
aid scheme say that they do not have
money to pay for it. Indeed affordability
is a leading indicator to joining a scheme.
The proportion of the population in particular,
poverty struck provinces residents
do not benefits from rich resources offered
in the private sector as they don’t belong to
medical schemes.
Poverty lines in the
Eastern Cape
Challenges faced by poverty struck residents
in the Eastern Cape, particularly accessing
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