The Congress of South African Trade Unions denounces and rejects the specious and baseless attacks directed at the National Health Insurance by some funded lobbyists, who are hell-bent of maintaining the status quo. Since the gazetting of the NHI bill on the 21st of June 2018, some neoliberal economists and political parties, to name a few have launched a scathing attack on the bill as well as the NHI policy.
This is not surprising because we know that these so called organisations have no interest in policies that seek to address South Africa’s inequality crises and the fulfilment of section 27 of the constitution ,as well as article 12 of the United Nations Covenant on Economic, social and cultural Rights of 1966, which provides for the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
The National Health Insurance represents a policy shift that necessitates a mass reorganisation of the current health system. This mass reorganisation affects both the public and private sector in order to redress the inequality in the current provision of health care with approximately 4.4% of GDP in health expenditure benefiting only 16 % of the population and 4.1% of GDP benefiting the remaining 84% of the population, who are predominantly black victims of an evil Apartheid regime. There is a tinge of racism that fuels the criticism of NHI because the beneficiaries of apartheid separate development want to protect their inherited privileges. ……more