Medical aid members slow to access AIDS benefits

A fraction of people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa are making use of their medical aid benefits, an AIDS management programme has said. It is estimated that only one in 14 medical aid members are making use of their HIV/AIDS benefits, despite being covered by the premiums they pay. The clinical director of Aid for AIDS (AFA), Dr Leon Regensberg, said only 22,500 of an estimated 450,000 HIV-positive members had enrolled for HIV/AIDS programmes. The local Sunday Times newspaper quoted Regensberg as saying: "We wish beneficiaries would join sooner. The benefit they get from treatment is much greater if they start at the appropriate time, rather than when they are already sick." AFA handles HIV/AIDS medical care for more than 36 medical schemes and several companies, and has become the country's largest AIDS benefits management programme.