South African trends in medical aid coverage and stated healthcare-seeking preferences : 2004–14

Abstract

Using population-weighted general household surveys (GHS) covering the years 2004–14, this study examines trends in medical aid coverage and healthcare facility utilisation across a spectrum of socio-demographic variables. As there are few obvious patterns in the raw health variables' time series, the analysis relies upon both parametric and nonparametric regression analysis to smooth the time series in order to outline a few general trends. Over time, medical aid coverage and the general population's ‘preference’ for public health care decreased by 0.2% and 0.1% per year, respectively. Moreover, the probability that an individual, who is covered by a medical aid scheme, states their willingness to use public health care decreased by 44%.