FEWER than 500 000 Namibians have access to medical insurance, with the rest of the population having to rely on the public health budget.
According to rough estimates of financial regulator Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) and the government, this involves around 410 900 people – 17% of the population of 2,5 million people.
There was a total 201 914 private medical aid beneficiaries during the period under review towards the end of last year.
According to available data for the Public Service Employee Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas) it has an almost similar number of beneficiaries at 287 233.
The private sector collected N$1,07 billion in gross contributions late last year, which was not enough to cover N$1,6 billion in expenses.
Psemas has received over N$7 billion from the government since 2016.
The two medical insurance categories only covering a minimal part of the population paints a picture of an underinvested healthcare industry.
There were only nine registered private medical aid funds by the end of 2019.
The rest of the population is at the mercy of public healthcare battling a lack of critical medication, inadequate staffing, and a lack of medical equipment.
According to Namfisa, by the end of 2019, private sector medical aid funds had 93 840 principal members and 108 074 dependants.
At least 80% of contributions collected were used to cover claims on behalf of members in the same period.
Investment assets of these medical aid funds amounted to N$2 billion by 31 December 2019, of which 47,87% were invested in Namibia and the rest elsewhere.
Namfisa said with such a strong balance sheet, the private medical aid fund industry was financially sound and well capitalised by the end of last year.
The year-on-year increase in beneficiaries was 3,12% during 2019, which is a favourable trend given the current economic climate.
Namfisa said the majority of new principal members were young individuals, which allows for greater cross-subsidisation of claims within the industry.
Despite the number of dependants marginally increasing, the average family size for the closed fund industry decreased during the period under review.
Namfisa attributed this to low economic growth and lower disposable income for households.
Namfisa also found the proportion of pensioners with medical aid decreased during the review period.
Half (50,5%) of the industry’s beneficiaries are aged 30 years and below.
At the end of 2019, the presence of the elderly population in medical aid funds has decreased by 1,36% as the average age of medical aid fund members now floats around 43 years.
Younger members generally means less claims.
The industry’s overall pensioner ratio of 5,79% as at 31 December 2019 was significantly lower than the prudential benchmark of 15% or below.
“The low enrolment of pensioners is attributable to high premiums charged for this cluster of members,” Namfisa said.
“Open funds are less inclined to enrol pensioners as they are regarded as high claimers,” the report revealed.
The industry’s average age of total beneficiaries remained below the prudential benchmark of 45 years and under.
Email: erastus@namibian.com.na
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