Although the president is looking for a pen to sign the NHI Bill into law before the election, there has been another call for him to send the Bill back to parliament instead of signing it. The National Assembly as well as the National Council of Provinces passed the NHI Bill without any changes, although there has been considerable input from experts.
He points out that the National Health Insurance Bill in its current form, which is on the president’s desk for consideration, is unfortunately not consistent with building long-term sustainability and access. “It is deeply troubling that a vast number of concerned stakeholders have repeatedly raised these concerns throughout the legislative process.
Mathe says this not only affects public sector employees, but every citizen who has a medical aid subsidy as part of their employment benefit package, as well as those benefiting from medical scheme tax credits that reduce their personal income tax burden.Government intends to eliminate this benefit to finance the NHI and should be a cause for concern for all employers and employees who access these benefits, he says.
“The financial risks to the country and taxpayers are substantial. The department of health has not yet defined the package of benefits that the NHI will offer and therefore the true costs are unknown. However, the national department of health has indicated that it will need to raise an additional R200 billion each year to supplement the current national health budget.”
Mathe says even if government were able to raise this money, it would mean that the package of services that citizens can access through the NHI would still be extremely limited. He says for instance, if the NHI package of benefits is only available in the NHI Fund once it is fully implemented, those currently on medical aids will only have access to less than one-third of the benefits that they currently access through their medical aids.
“This will further delay the country’s ability to advance universal health coverage, undermining much-needed healthcare reform, which is critical for driving economic growth.”