ALMOST 25 per cent of Jamaicans who become ill or injured do not seek health care, and the most common reason given for their behaviour is a preference for home remedies, a study has shown.

This was disclosed in the latest report on the survey of living conditions which is jointly conducted by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute (STATIN).

The 2012 report, tabled last Tuesday in Parliament by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Peter Phillips, although more than two years late, gives some interesting indications on several social trends up to then, especially in health, housing and education.

One of the issues tackled in the report was the reasons for Jamaicans not seeking public or private health care, despite the removal of hospital fees by the previous administration and, in an increasing number of cases, despite having health insurance coverage.

It states that an estimated 24.8 per cent of persons who were ill or injured did not seek health care for their condition. This represented an improvement over 2010, when 32 per cent did not seek professional care, it noted.

“The most common reason for not seeking care was having a preference for home remedies,” the report added, pointing out that the 48.9 per cent of persons in this category was a significant increase over the 36.5 per cent recorded in 2010 and a return to the 2009 figure of 49 per cent, which was the highest recorded in the series.

The largest number of persons found relying on home remedies were surprisingly living in the urban Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA), which covers Kingston, urban St Andrew, Portmore and Spanish Town, and had 60 per cent of them, mainly male between the ages of 40 and 49.

The report said that despite the elimination of user fees in public health facilities, 20.5 per cent of persons who were ill or injured said that they did not seek care because they could not afford it.

The share of persons reporting money problems ranged from 19.2 per cent in 2002; 34 per cent in 2007 and 22.3 in 2010. However, the problem of financial constraint restricting persons from seeking professional medical attention was highest among residents of rural areas, which recorded 22.4 per cent, compared with the KMA’s 20.8 per cent.

Some 24.5 per cent of females said that they could not afford medical attention, compared to 16.6 of males, and senior citizens (60-64 years) registered the largest proportion of these persons. They were followed by persons 65 and over (30.3 per cent), 40-49 years old (26.2 per cent), and 30-39 (20 per cent).

Only 18.8 per cent of Jamaicans reported having health insurance coverage, a reduction from the 19.5 per cent who were in that position in 2010.

Health insurance coverage was most common in the KMA (28.5 per cent), which was more than twice the coverage recorded in rural areas (12.7) .

The report raised some concerns about the fact that a growing number of persons with health insurance coverage were not seeking care, despite being ill or injured.

“An estimated 22.3 per cent of the persons who sought care during the reference period had health insurance coverage. This was a decline from the 25.3 per cent recorded in 2010. Regionally, both the KMA and ‘Other Towns’ registered declines in the proportion of persons who sought care and had health insurance,” the report said.

“For those who did not seek care in 2012, 18.6 per cent had health insurance, up from 15.7 per cent in 2010,” it added.

It was interesting that both the KMA and “Other Towns” (other urban centres) registered declines in the number of persons who sought care had health insurance. Their respective levels were 29.8 per cent and 21.3 per cent, down by 8.5 percentage points in the KMA and 3.2 percentage points in the “Other Towns”.

The proportion of persons who did not seek care, but had health insurance coverage increased in all three regions which the survey covered.