Patients treated in government hospitals are charged according to a tariff called the Uniform Patient Fee Schedule (UPFS), which sets a tariff according to:

• the level of hospital providing the treatment
• the category of medical staff providing the treatment
• the income of the patient.

Only full-paying patients are charged the full UPFS fee. Patients who receive social pensions or are formally unemployed can get almost all hospital health services free of charge. Other patients with low incomes are partially subsidised. Those who have an income of more than R72,000 for a single person per year (or R100,000 income per family per year) pay the full-paying UPFS fee.