By Palesa Matlala
- The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union warns that state medical aid costs jumped by 23% in just two years.
- Teacher Monde Rakgetla plans to drop her family medical scheme because the heavy monthly payments push her deep into debt.
Monde Rakgetla has worked as a teacher for six years. She uses the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) to cover her husband and two children. But rising medical aid prices are a heavy load she can no longer carry.
Now, she is looking for a way out.
“The monthly costs have become too expensive,” Rakgetla said.
She only takes her children to a general doctor and avoids specialists. She pays from her own pocket and only claims back a small amount of money from GEMS.
Thousands of public workers face the exact same struggle. They deal with endless extra payments and strict limits on which doctors they can visit.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) warns that the situation pushes workers to breaking point.
GEMS prices jumped by 13.4% in 2025. In April 2026, the price shot up by another 9.5%.
This means workers took a massive 23% hit to their pockets in just two years.
At the same time, public workers only got a 5.5% pay increase in 2025 and a 4% increase in 2026.
POPCRU spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said medical aid prices are growing more than twice as fast as wages.
“It means a correctional officer must now choose between medical cover and putting food on the table,” Mamabolo said.
The union said GEMS started as a plan to give cheap healthcare to state workers. Now, that dream is falling apart.
Desperate workers are downgrading their plans or ditching their medical aid completely.
The union warns that struggling families face the brutal reality of untreated illnesses, delayed treatments and growing debt.
The union wants all trade unions to unite and fight for a healthcare system that does not bankrupt people.
Pictured above: A patient getting their blood pressure checked.
Image source: Department of Health
