Private healthcare – too expensive?

Abstract

Only 20% of the South African population can afford to use private healthcare, yet the sector contains 80% of the country’s doctors. Conversely, 80% of the population is stuck with 20% of the doctors – overworked, underpaid public servants who often lack the equipment or medicines to treat their patients properly. Besides being a great example of the so-called ‘Pareto principle’ (also known as the 80-20 rule), these simple facts also highlight the tremendous inequalities that exist in South African society. One imagines it is for reasons like this that the World Bank has consistently labelled South Africa one of the most unequal countries in the world.