Trade union, Solidarity has expressed its intention to legally challenge the passing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill by the National Assembly.
The Department of Health says it welcomes the latest development however, other stakeholders have voiced concerns over how the NHI will operate in South Africa.
“Most arguments regarding the NHI is completely academic. The numbers aren’t there. This bill was passed without a proper costing model. So, the ANC has rushed it through the parliament without stopping and considering what exactly will it cost and cover. It is simply impossible and completely unaffordable for the country. That is one of the reasons that we are heading to court, is to once again force the government to stay within its means and so the right thing with spending public money,” says Corne Mulder, Head of Research at Solidarity.
The Deputy Director General for NHI at the Health Department, Dr Nicholas Crisp says the key in ensuring NHI succeeds is transparency.
The National Assembly passed the NHI Bill on Tuesday and the bill will now need to be passed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The aim of the Bill is to provide equitable access to quality health services based on needs, instead of socio-economic status. Dr Crisp says even medical aids are not transparent.
“That’s always a challenge and the way to do it is to make sure that its always as transparent as possible and that its always one system not devious different system for different people. I mean how do you know how your money is spent by your medical aid on your other people, you have no way of determining that and the outcomes are published either. So those are the challenges we need to avoid, and we need to make sure that we all know what the benefits are, we all know what we are paying for those benefits to providers. At the moment you have no idea what you are paying for the benefits to a particular provider, even if you ask for the statement sometimes, they don’t give it to you,” says Dr Crisp.
Source: SABC News
