The Board of Healthcare Funders of South Africa (B.H.F) has welcomed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill, announced by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday.
The bills will complement each other and aim to ensure universal access to health care by all South Africans. They will also repeal over 200 items of health legislation which are inconsistent with the Constitution.
However, Managing Director of the Board of Healthcare Funders, Dr Katlego Mothudi, says there is still a lot to work to be done before NHI can be implemented:
Mothudi says he hopes to see a focus on improving the quality of public sector facilities and to bring them up to the required standard to qualify to provide healthcare.
“Will there be rationing? Yes, rationing exists. Currently in the public sector is long queues etc. In the private sector there are benefit limits,” says Mothudi.
“We’ve had a series of complaints about members who’ve sort specific treatments like for cancer, and they’re told this is not covered or their benefits have run out. So there’s a lot of work that is required to be done from both public side as well as the private side,” says Mothudi.
Health minister briefs media
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has released details of two bills — the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill in Pretoria. The bills will complement each other and ensure universal access to health care by all South Africans. The bills will also repeal over 200 health legislation which are inconsistent with the Constitution.
The year 2018 to 2022 is the second phase of the implementation of National Health Insurance. Minister Motsoaledi announced that the two bills have been gazetted and open for public comments.
Motsoaledi, accompanied by officials from his department, including Health Ombudsman, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, says the need for universal access to primary healthcare influenced implementation of National Health Insurance.
He says that every citizen needs access to quality health care in order to reach their full potential and that to achieve this – fair and equitable financing of health care is inevitable.
“As it is now generally accepted, the cost of private healthcare is out of reach for many citizens, even the well to do ones. The presentation of the WHO and the OECD stated that, contrary to beliefs, only 10 per cent of SA’s population can afford what is being charged in private healthcare. Hence the amendments we are introducing today are meant to provide much needed relief to patients finding themselves in serious financial hardships.”
[Watch] Discussing National Health Insurance
