BusinessLive reports that many medical scheme members with mental illness are being forced to dig deep into their own pockets to foot their bills and are delaying or stopping treatment when the money runs out.  

This is according to a survey conducted by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag).  Sadag’s survey is not nationally representative, but does nevertheless highlight significant inadequacies in medical scheme cover for even the relatively well-resourced middle-class families that responded to its questionnaire.  More than half (55%) of the respondents said they were using their own money to fund the gaps in their medical scheme cover and 13% said they had turned to family and friends for help.  One of the most worrying findings was that a fifth of the respondents said they coped with limitations on their mental health cover by either delaying or stopping treatment, risking a decline or relapse.  Just over a third of respondents (35%) said they had reached their limits on counseling, and a similar proportion (34%) said they could not get medication once their medical scheme limits were reached.

• Read this report by Tamar Kahn in full at BusinessLive

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