The construction of a price index for the South African Medical Scheme Industry

A methodology is proposed for constructing a price index that reflects the change in the prices of the goods and services purchased by medical schemes in South Africa. The methodological choices were made taking cognisance of the unique characteristics of the South African medical scheme environment, both in terms of the factors influencing the mix of goods and services purchased by medical schemes, as well as the factors affecting price determination. An example of a pharmaceutical price index was constructed to illustrate the proposed methodology, the results of which are presented. Whilst the proposed methodology provides a base for creating a meaningful and useful medical scheme price index there is considerable further work that needs to be done to refine the methodology.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Economics

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Ramjee, Shivani

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dorrington, Rob

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5709

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5709