South Africans only start prioritising provision for healthcare from the age of 40 onwards. But this might be a little too late.
According to Medscheme’s statistics, one-third of their membership base (1.2 million members) have a chronic health burden. This demonstrates the difference between reactive care and the preventative care impact of late participation. Although most healthcare practitioners and medical schemes encourage members to start having routine tests, for example, cancer at age 40, wellness initiatives have no age limit and if engaged at an early age, most chronic conditions could be prevented or diagnosed early enough to arrest its severity.
Late-joiner penalties are imposed due to possible selection against health insurers. This makes the joining process expensive and too expensive for some.
Statistics show that control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) reduces the burden of disease by approximately 80%.
People at different points on the healthcare system change and can benefit from different interventions
Impact of delayed participation
The World Health Organisation (WHO) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises non- communicable diseases (NCDs) as a major challenge for sustainable development. It aims to accelerate progress on the prevention and control of NCDs and seeks to ensure member states adopt policies and programmes that improve NCD outcomes, save the lives of people living with NCDs, and to reduce premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment.
Healthcare expenditure by age band (CMS report)
Cost of care is skewed towards elderly and sickly (45 and above (32%) account for 61% of the expenditure)
Life happens to all of us. As we pass through various life stages, everything else, such as family, raising kids, and acquiring assets, take priority, but the reality is that the stress of all this impacts our health; therefore, leading a healthy lifestyle and focusing on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases become a priority.
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