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The Demand for Health Care in South Africa

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  • R Havemann
  • S van der Berg

Abstract

Supply-side solutions to health-care provision dominate the South African debate. These are often premised on views that health resources are too concentrated in the private health sector - which supposedly serves only a small minority - and that public provision needs to be expanded. This misunderstands the nature of the demand for health services. This paper estimates the determinants of the demand for health care using a multinomial logit estimation and finds that three categories of factors influence this demand: demographic and locational variables (e.g. income, race and location); characteristics of the care provided (e.g. cost and distance from the respondent); and characteristics of the illness (such as its severity).Even poor respondents reveal a clear preference for private care, despite constraints of money and access. This dominance of the demand for private health care is likely to increase with rising incomes, or if all health services were to be similarly subsidised (e.g. from mooted medical insurance-type schemes). Greater attention should therefore perhaps be given to health demand in considering policy alternatives.

Suggested Citation

  • R Havemann & S van der Berg, 2003. "The Demand for Health Care in South Africa," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 1-27, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rseexx:v:27:y:2003:i:3:p:1-27
    DOI: 10.1080/10800379.2003.12106350
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Victor R. Fuchs, 1972. "The Growing Demand for Medical Care," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Health and Medical Care, pages 61-68, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    5. Gertler, P. & Locay, L. & Sanderson, W. & Dor, A. & Van Der Gaag, J., 1988. "Health Care Financing And The Demand For Medical Care," Papers 37, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
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    7. Akin, John S. & Guilkey, David K. & Hazel?Denton, E., 1995. "Quality of services and demand for health care in Nigeria: A multinomial probit estimation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 1527-1537, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna S. Brink & Steven F. Koch, 2013. "The 1996 User Fee Abolition in South Africa: A Difference-in-Difference Analysis," Working Papers 201332, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    2. Steven F. Koch, 2012. "The Abolition of User Fees and the Demand for Health Care: Re-Evaluating the Impact," Working Papers 201219, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    3. Ronelle Burger & Christelle Swanepoel, 2006. "Have pro-poor health policies improved the targeting of spending and the effective delivery of health care in South Africa?," Working Papers 12/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Frikkie Booysens & Martine Visser, 2005. "Demand for health care in HIV/AIDS – affected households in two communities in the Free State province of South Africa," Working Papers 008, Economic Research Southern Africa.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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