Targeted healthcare benefits can provide discerning support.

Every individual’s health and wellbeing matter; that’s a given. But now that August has come and gone – and with it much of the messaging surrounding Women’s Month – I am once again left with the concern that our work as a nation and an industry is far from done. We can and should do so much better for our women.

So, let’s talk about the driving force behind families and many businesses—women. The healthcare journey of South Africa’s women demands special attention and acknowledgement in the workplace. In the world of healthcare, meeting and anticipating the needs of women requires ongoing attention.

To truly shine as employers and providers of healthcare coverage, we need a year-round, collaborative focus on the mental and physical wellbeing of women throughout their lifetime. In a world where women’s roles continue to evolve, it is imperative to keep pace with the very specific requirements of working women, many of whom are not only primary caregivers but are also leaders in business.

For this vital portion of your talent base to truly be at their best, they require a discerning level of healthcare support and, with many more women taking the helm in the professional arena, the time has come to revolutionise employee care. Quite frankly, this means that tailored healthcare coverage should no longer be viewed as just another perk, but as a magnet for top-tier talent.

The disease burden for women

So, what are the real life factors shaping the healthcare needs of women specifically? Starting out at the foundational level of essential cover, the disease burden data speaks for itself. The most recent Globocan report indicates that the greatest number of new cancer cases in South Africa were attributable to breast cancer, indicating that women are the most affected by new cancer cases.

Cervical cancer follows closely as the second most prevalent cancer affecting women. And with the incidence of cancer in people under the age of 50 on the rise, an unlimited oncology benefit is an essential component for any organisation that is serious about taking care of its people.

Other considerations for women are common chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, which has increased in prevalence in South African women from 31% to 48% over a 12-year period, according to a study recently published in the journal Global Epidemiology.

These are just a handful of serious physical healthcare considerations and the purpose of sharing them here is not to instil a sense of fear but rather a feeling of preparedness – as they say, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, a logic that underpins the very reason for healthcare cover in the first place.

Mental health awareness

As we know, developing true wellness among your human capital is not simply a matter of addressing the factors that affect physical health. It also includes acknowledging and supporting the mental wellbeing of your employees.

According to the Deloitte Women@Work 2023 report, over 35% of respondents rated their mental health as poor or very poor and approximately 50% noted that their stress levels are higher than a year ago. The report also indicated that 39% felt comfortable disclosing the need to take time off work for mental health reasons, with more than half of women stating that their mental health was a top concern.

Unlimited access to psychosocial counselling via a 24-hour dedicated helpline for medical scheme members, followed up with face-to-face sessions when needed, can go a long way to bolstering a staff base in times of need and perhaps curtailing and reducing negative experiences for the women in your company, such as those reported above.

The spectrum of preventative and wellness benefits

While the concept of preventative care is not new, preventative benefits have evolved considerably and even then, not all are created equal, as employees are becoming increasingly aware. For women in particular, an annual pap smear has long been an essential healthcare box to tick, as is a biannual mammogram.

But it’s time to level up and give greater protection and peace of mind to your female employees by providing them with access to a mammogram benefit from the age of 35, rather than from the age of 40, as is the case with some of the largest medical schemes in South Africa.

Fortunately, these days preventative care now begins early in the life of a woman, and a medical scheme with the foresight to cover the HPV vaccine for girls and young women helps our communities to reduce the risk of cervical cancer dramatically.

However, true preventative care should go much further than providing access to check-ups and prophylactics, and while such benefits are crucial to holistic healthcare cover, belonging to a medical scheme that fully supports and actively encourages a healthy lifestyle cannot be underestimated.

Whether it is a young individual carving her path as a junior employee or a seasoned member of the C-suite team, women across the board will appreciate a healthcare partner that sees the individual and adds significant value in addition to essential cover.

After all, meaningful wellness benefits have the potential to cultivate healthy lifestyle choices, particularly when offered across all benefit options equally and when paid from risk with the added benefit of leaving all other healthcare benefits untouched.

A personalised scientific fitness assessment and exercise prescription programme, for example, is a benefit that can make a tangible difference in the lives of employees, every day. With regular interaction and monitoring from a registered biokineticist at an accredited exercise facility or from home, if preferred.

We at CompCare are certainly seeing that this type of benefit is particularly popular among female medical scheme members who appreciate freedom of choice in exploring the options to find a physical activity that works best for their bodies.

The same goes for a tailored nutritional assessment and healthy eating plan in consultation with a registered dietitian – a truly meaningful example of what an organisation can do to invest in the daily health of its women. Wherever they may be on their wellness journey, lifestyle benefits such as these can have a lasting impact on the health of your staff base and the general attitude towards health in your organisational culture.

Family matters

As for those women who choose to have children, a little extra support in taking care of the health of their young ones provides a sense of comfort and security, knowing that a trusted medical scheme is in their corner – all the more so for the many hard-working single mothers out there.

Comprehensive maternity and new born benefits, as well as exceptional children’s wellness benefits, such as unlimited GP visits for kids under the age of six and an exercise and nutrition benefit for children, can provide some much-needed assistance to a hard-working mother in a period of life that is inevitably busy and at times stressful.

As someone who has been part of the medical schemes community for many decades, what I see is that women are continuing to take the lead in optimising personal health and the health of their families.

Furthermore, as a medical scheme that has served our member base for over 40 years, it has been our experience that women have a particular insight into the value of cover that ensures access to everything from essential women’s health checks to maternity benefits, family healthcare and reliable essential cover for those unforeseen and sometimes life altering difficult healthcare events.

Investing in holistic employee healthcare is a no brainer, but discerning the details of just what gives your cover the edge – that is when targeted wellness has the potential to transform the healthcare experience for women in the workplace.

Sources:
International Agency for Research on Cancer
https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/710-south-africa-fact-sheets.pdf
The Harvard Gazette
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/09/researchers-report-dramatic-rise-in-early-onset-cancers/
Global Epidemiology
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590113321000171
Deloitte Women@Work 2023
https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/issues/work/content/women-at-work-global-outlook.html.

Josua Joubert is Chief Executive and Principal Officer of CompCare Medical Scheme in Johannesburg, South Africa.