Health care should serve people, not profits

While the debate about affordable health care centres on the National Health Insurance (NHI) rages, it has been claimed that government is responsible for not doing enough to bring down private health care costs.

The claim is made by a party which can hardly be called disinterested: the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF)… but that does not make it any less worth considering.

The BHF says the government’s failure to implement the recommendations of the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry, which was completed in 2019, is driving up private healthcare costs.

The inquiry recommended that medical schemes be allowed an exemption from the terms of the Competition Act, to allow them to collectively negotiate tariffs with the medical sector.

ALSO READ: Private healthcare could be cheaper but government dragging its feet

The BHF applied for such an exemption in 2021, and says that, had it been granted, it would have been able to negotiate lower tariffs from hospitals and medical professionals, making medical aid more affordable and enabling more South Africans to get cover.

Spiralling private medical costs – and the huge gap between them and what medical aid covers – have been some of the drivers behind the ANC’s push to bring in the NHI.

Medical care, whether private or state, should never be a profit centre for anyone.