The parliamentary portfolio committee on health heard oral presentations on the National Health Insurance Bill (the Bill) from 117 individuals, organisations and institutions. This information was collated by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group and analysed by researchers from the South African Medical Research Council, Clinton Health Access Initiative and the universities of the Western Cape and Cape Town.
Most agree the Bill has serious legal problems. With the exception of the African National Congress — which argued that it was “satisfied that the Bill is constitutional, having witnessed the rigorous evaluation of constitutional implications of its underlying policy when that was processed through the Cabinet” — there was a high level of concern among respondents around the constitutionality of the Bill. Just over two-thirds (69%) of respondents were concerned, 27% were “silent” and 3% were not concerned. ….more