The new National Health Insurance (NHI) laws in South Africa have been signed but are not yet in effect – but legal experts at Bowmans have pointed out an anomaly relating to maternity and pregnancy-related benefits in medical aids that are at serious risk if the president doesn’t intervene.
According to Bowmans, the NHI Act stipulates that the Medical Schemes Act is to be amended with immediate effect to remove maternity and pregnancy-related benefits from the scope of medical schemes.
This is before the NHI is even fully implemented. This poses a serious problem for this type of coverage under medical aids “unless the President addresses this apparent anomaly by proclaiming a deferred effective date for that amendment”…..more
