‘Revolutionary’ NHI Bill passed by Parliament

Photo: Health Minister, Joe Phaahla 

Describing the Bill as one of the “most revolutionary pieces of legislation” presented to the National Assembly (NA) since the dawn of democracy, a delighted Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla reiterated that National Health Insurance will give every South African access to comprehensive healthcare services, free of charge at accredited health facilities and health practitioners.

“The reality, honourable members, is that the current situation is not sustainable. As the number of people in formal jobs is not rising in line with the investment in private healthcare and the cost of administering medical aids, the cost of subscription is rising above inflation every year, while benefits are reducing and getting exhausted before the end of every calendar year,” Phaahla said.

Calling it unjust, he said while almost all healthcare professionals are trained at the expense of taxpayers, only people who can afford medical aid have access to them once they become top specialists and super specialists.

“All medical professionals are trained for their clinical skills on ordinary South Africans in the public health facilities, but once they are qualified, they are only accessible to those with money. The availability of top health professionals only to those with medical aid, but even migration to other countries is totally unjust,” Phaahla told MPs.

All 200 ANC MPs voted in favour of the bill, joined by members of the PAC, NFP, the GOOD Party and the AIC. While all the DA’s 71 MPs as well as the EFF, Freedom Front Plus, IFP, ACDP and ATM voted against, they still couldn’t garner enough votes to stop the passing of the controversial legislation.

The Bill still needs to be submitted to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence, but it is widely expected that not much will be changed in the current version before it is presented to the president for his signature.

NHI not a ‘miracle’

Expressing her dismay about Parliament’s passing of the Bill, the DA’s shadow minister of health, Michele Clarke noted that NHI was not in the best interest of all citizens and that it will only push more South Africans into an already overwhelmed public health system.

“The ANC might argue that through the NHI fund, private health facilities will be servicing a large portion of the public previously unable to access their services. However, this is based on the ludicrous assumption that those nine million South Africans will continue to pay their medical aids when it will no longer have any benefit for them.

“Without private patient funding, private health facilities will be dependent on government funding, effectively making them public health facilities without the benefit of a dedicated budget,” she said.

“The NHI is not a miracle that ANC claims it to be. It’s only meant to convince people that the looters have returned to their revolutionary roots, that once liberated a nation,” Clark added.

 Widespread opposition

Since the adoption of the Bill by the portfolio committee, medical associations including SAMA and the SAPPF, the Hospital Association of SA (HASA) as well as the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the Health Funders Association (HFA) have voiced strong opposition against the legislation. They pointed out that it failed to take into consideration the recommendations made by the private health sector, experts, opposition parties and other role players as well as the concerns raised by the Parliamentary Legal Advisor, opening it up for legal action.

Trade union, Solidarity has already met with its legal team to take government and the Department of Health to court should the current version of the Bill be signed into law. According to Solidarity, the ANC government is pushing through the legislation in a bid to canvass cheap votes in the run-up of next year’s elections.

According to the SAPPF, the NHI’s single-payer-single provider of healthcare model will have an immeasurable negative financial impact on the national fiscus, at a time when the economic climate in South Africa is dismal, corruption in every sphere including healthcare is constantly being uncovered, loadshedding is crippling the economy and national infrastructure is crumbling.

“To proceed with its introduction at this time is irresponsible,” the SAPPF said.