In South Africa, the cost of private healthcare more than tripled from ZAR42 billion to ZAR142 billion between 2002 and 2014. The WHO says this increase in fees is among the highest in the world – comparable with countries that have much higher GDP levels, including Germany, the UK and France.
According to a Business Tech report, the country spent more than 40% of its total health expenditure on private, voluntary health insurance, which is more than any OECD country. However, just 17% of the population can afford private health insurance.
In an attempt to rectify the costly situation, the Competition Commission of SA is conducting a market inquiry within the private healthcare sector in terms of its Competition Act in a bid to ‘implement measures to increase market transparency, and advise – and receive advice – from any regulatory authority’.
