THE Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has painted a bleak picture about the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and urges the public to comment on it prior to the deadline date of 21 September.
‘The two primary consequences are that the country’s excellent private healthcare system would be steadily undermined and the already deficient public health system impossibly burdened, at vast cost to taxpayers,’ said the IRR in a recent statement.
‘NHI is likely to cost at least R500-billion at its start, and could go as high as R1-trillion.’
Two proposed Bills are up for public comment – the NHI Bill and the Medical Aid Schemes Bill.
In its submission objecting to the NHI, the IRR said, ‘Not only will private healthcare choices be drastically reduced, but South Africans will be compelled to pay increased taxes to help fund the NHI, which Dr Motsoaledi says will be ‘like a giant state-run medical aid’.
‘The NHI will thus require a massive reorganisation of the current two-tier health system, with its public and private components.
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‘When it becomes fully operative, all health revenues will be paid into a single NHI fund, which in turn will pay for all the health services provided to patients, both by public and private practitioners and health facilities.’
The organisation said South Africa’s healthcare system is fraught with problems, often failing those who use it, owing predominantly to poor management and poor use of resources.
‘Making people pay into a central fund will not fix these problems.’
Some disturbing statistics quoted by the IRR include that 85% of clinics cannot comply with the basic hygiene norms and standards, and that malpractice compensation claims have reached the R56-billion mark.
‘This is more than a quarter (27%) of the entire R201-billion budget for public healthcare in 2018/19,’ said the IRR.
‘NHI will likely trigger an exodus of healthcare professionals, which will increase the already heavy burden on those who remain in the country.’
The gazette on the proposed Bill is available at www.gpwonline.co.za.
To comment on the two bills, members of the public must write to: The Director-General of Health, Private Bag X 828, Pretoria, 0001 (for the attention of the Deputy Director-General: NHI, Dr Anban Pillay) or email Anban.Pillay@health.gov.za.
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