By Kudakwashe Pembere
The number of Zimbabweans with medical insurance has never passed the 10 percent mark over the past decade due to various reasons, chief among them, a highly informalized economy, HealthTimes learned.
Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) chief executive Ms Shylet Sanyanga told this publication Tuesday on the side-lines of a NetOne-Salutem International Medical Fund medical cover launch that coverage never breached 10 percent describing the movement stunted.
“It has never moved, quite honestly. From like, I would say even over the past, over the past ten years. It’s really stunted, it’s stunted growth, it’s really stunted growth,” she said.
She explained that most people were leaving their medical aid societies due to various reasons.
The major reason is that most of the people are in the informal sector. So, there are no structures to enforce collection, regular collection. And what has happened in the past is that some medical societies that have tried to go into that sector have experienced a number of dropouts.
“Because people simply decide, oh, this month I’ve got different priorities. So, when they think they’ve got different priorities, they don’t prioritize medical aid, they simply default. So, there are high default rates in that sector,” Ms Sanyanga added.
Ms Sanyanga said they are yet to come up with statistics of defaulters.
“No, I don’t have that percentage of defaults. Because these medical societies, when they try, sometimes they think they’ve signed up new members. And they run for a certain period, and then they start defaulting. But we have not actually collected statistics as to how many defaulted throughout the entire industry,” she said.
During the launch, she said it was relieving to see players like Salutem coming in to tap into the uncovered 90 percent as many were haggling over the 10 percent.
“So I would like to congratulate Salutem on behalf of the Association for this initiative. We’ve always been urging our members to be innovative.
“But most of the time we’ve been seeing players coming onto the market, but coming to fight for the 10% that is covered. That number hasn’t grown over the years. It’s just about 1.7 million lives covered by the funders, “she said.
In extreme cases, Ms Sanyanga last year at a joint conference for the Community Pharmacists Association (CPA) and the Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association (PWA) said some members were terminating membership and resorting to out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure which is unbearable.
“Unfortunately in our society, not everybody values the importance of ensuring themselves. People value having a funeral cover. It is either one has a burial society cover from a community or has a proper funeral cover. It seems people value being buried decently rather than living a healthy lifestyle where you can get your medication and have a meaningful life,” she said.
Meanwhile, Salutem Managing Director Mr Ruka Nyoka said their US$1 product launched in partnership with NetOne’s mobile money platform One Money sought to provide affordable essential healthcare coverage.
“We understand the challenges that many face when it comes to accessing healthcare, which has left over 14 million Zimbabweans without any form of medical cover. This in turn has led to congestion at public centers and added pressure to the fiscus.
“It is against this background, ladies and gentlemen, that we have introduced our innovative $1 product, the One Health, a groundbreaking offering designed to provide essential healthcare coverage at an affordable cost,” he said.
NetOne Group chief executive Raphael Mushanawani said, “This collaboration with Salutem reflects our collective response to the need for expanded healthcare coverage in Zimbabwe, where many of citizens are currently without medical cover. Salutem’s One Dollar Product offers an affordable gateway to essential healthcare services, reducing strain on public facilities and easing pressure on the national health budget.
