It will take years for the National Health Insurance (NHI) fund to be established, and even longer for the scheme to roll out services, says National Treasury, so tax measures to fund it are not on the horizon just yet.
Responding to a recent written parliamentary Q&A, the Finance Ministry said any and all funding related to NHI has already been budgeted for in direct and indirect grants over the medium term, and there is no immediate financial pressure to find more funding, reports BusinessTech.
This is because the baseline allocations in the direct NHI grand and indirect grants to the Department of Health are funding preparatory activities and coming from funds that have historically tended to be underspent.
“The baselines for the grants, which primarily fund NHI preparatory activities, have been maintained without any reductions or additions. The preliminary allocations for the health systems and health facility revitalisation components, within the indirect NHI grant, are estimated at R7.3bn over the 2025 MTEF,” Treasury said. ….more
