The long-awaited National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill was ready for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s scrutiny, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday.
Motsoaledi sought to assure Parliament he was making progress in realising the ANC’s promise of universal healthcare.
Delivering his budget speech to Parliament, Motsoaledi said he had planned to present the bill and a related Medical Schemes Amendment Bill to a cabinet committee on Tuesday morning, in the expectation that they would be recommended for approval next week.
“However, the president said he has taken a special personal interest in the NHI and hence instructed that we put the bill in abeyance and not present it in his absence [as he is out of the country]. So I have presented the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill to the committee. …..more