South Africa’s public health sector, which caters to more than 80% of the population, is under enormous pressure.

This was reflected in a Stellenbosch University survey which found that 60% of doctors and nurses at Cape Town clinics failed to greet patients due to time pressure. In 90% of consultations, the researchers further found, healthcare staff did not try to understand the patient’s perspective, leading them to conclude that, “This gap in effective communication and lack of patient-centredness is likely to be one of the factors behind poor adherence to treatment.”

A 2021 KwaZulu-Natal Province State of Health Report found that even when patients rate more clinic staff – 75% – as friendly and professional, wait times due to staff shortages remain a big challenge. The average waiting time once clinics have opened was just over three hours. Only nine of the 135 clinics in the report had a waiting time of under two hours and 15 had a waiting time of at least five hours. This excludes the time spent queueing before the clinics open and travel time.

The long wait times at clinics – are far from ideal from the employee and employer’s perspective.

How health insurance could benefit your business and employees

For employers that have low-income earners, such as supermarket chains and security companies, there is a significant productivity benefit to be derived from providing health insurance to all their workers. It allows them to see a GP in a private capacity, receive the medication they require and return to work in a relatively short time.

Many large South African corporates already have medical-aid cover as part of their employee benefits packages. However, not many companies can provide medical aid to all their staff. As a result, it makes sense for employers to consider subsidising health-insurance products that will help to close the healthcare gap for their employees that are currently not covered.

It’s still unclear how the government plans to execute its proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) programme, or how this is going to be funded. But an essential aim of NHI is to provide access to quality healthcare. Health insurance addresses this systemic challenge in the shorter term.

What are the socio-economic benefits of health insurance?

Cost is one of the greatest barriers to access quality healthcare services in sub-Saharan Africa:

• The continent’s high disease burden – we carry 25% of the global disease burden but have 3% of the world’s healthcare workers.
• Government services that are under-resourced, with long waiting times, shortages of consumables and drugs, and poor patient experiences.
• Low investment (approximately one third of the national healthcare spend) in South Africa is allocated to primary healthcare.
• The fee-for-service environment, which results in clinicians over-servicing patients, which drives up costs even more.

According to the Better Business, Better World report, produced by the United Nations’ (UN) Business and Sustainable Development Commission, products that improve the health of a nation, region, or continent are also going to greatly improve its productivity.

Improved access to professional healthcare will bring us closer to realising the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all ages. This should be mutually beneficial for employers and their staff alike, as the return on investment of an economy is multiplied when a workforce is healthy.

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