National Health Insurance (NHI) will be mandatory for all South Africans to contribute to, but individuals can decide if they still want to be members of private medical schemes in addition to making use of NHI, according to an expert.
Last week, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi gazetted two bills which will shake up the healthcare system. These are the NHI Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill, and they seek to address the “terrible twins” of the healthcare system – the exorbitant cost of private healthcare and the poor quality of care in the public health system.
NHI is being implemented in multiple phases. The first was completed in 2017 and involved the piloting of certain services in certain districts, Dr Katlego Mothudi, MD of the Board of Healthcare Funders of Southern Africa, told Fin24. ….more