Social health insurance contributes to universal coverage in South Africa, but generates inequities: survey among members of a government employee insurance scheme

Table 2 Self-reported health status in the whole study sample and in lower skilled workers, by insurance status

Variable		Uninsured	Privately Insured	GEMS	GEMS OPTIONS
Variable		Uninsured	Privately Insured	GEMS	Sapphire/ Beryl/Ruby ‘low-cost’	Emerald ‘mid-cost’	Onyx ‘high-cost’	Total sample
Total sample		N = 342	N = 574	N = 408	N = 67	N = 305	N = 36	N = 1330
Health status	Excellent (320)	27.0	20.9	26.1	32.8	23.9	33.3	24.1
	Good (633)	44.9	49.1	47.8	34.3	49.8	52.8	47.6
	Average (342)	25.5	28.2	22.5	31.3	22.6	8.3	25.7
	Poor or very poor (34)	2.6	1.7	3.6**	1.5	3.6	5.6**	2.6
Percent had illness in last month (380)		17.3	33.1	32.0*	28.4	31.9	40.0	28.7
Lower skilled workers		N = 97	N = 33	N = 36	N = 16	N = 20	N = 0	N = 168
Health status	Excellent (23)	15.6	9.1	13.2	25.0	5.0	–	13.8
	Good (73)	44.8	45.5	39.5	43.8	35.0	–	43.7
	Average (58)	32.3	42.4	34.2	31.3	40.0	–	34.7
	Poor or very poor (13)	7.3	3.0	13.2	0.0	20.0	–	7.8
Percent had illness in last month (43)		17.7	40.6	34.2*	25.0	40.0	–	25.9

*P < 0.05. **P = 0.05–0.10. Sum of totals may be less that the total sample (1330) due to missing data
No lower skilled workers were members of the Onyx option

ISSN: 1475-9276