MEDICAL SCHEMES
Health insurance study needed, says DA
Critics warn that workers who cannot afford medical scheme cover stand to lose their access to private healthcare services
The Treasury should conduct an impact assessment of the government’s controversial demarcation regulations as they threaten low-income earners’ access to private healthcare, says the DA. The regulations, which were published in the government gazette two days before Christmas, will from April 1 impose tight restrictions on the kinds of health insurance products that may be sold, along with new controls on their marketing. The Treasury and the Department of Health have collaborated on the regulations, which, they say, are intended to stabilise the medical schemes industry and to protect consumers. But critics, including the DA, say the fact that the regulations will phase out primary healthcare products before a viable alternative is firmly established means workers who cannot afford medical scheme cover stand to lose their access to private healthcare services. "The impact of the regulations needs to be assessed. They are entrenching the vested interests of medical schemes, and crow...
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