National Health Insurance (NHI) will require a massive re-organisation of the current health system, both public and private, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said as he released the long-awaited NHI Bill for public comment. The Bill was published in the Government Gazette on Thursday, paving the way for the Department of Health to set up an NHI fund that will purchase healthcare services on behalf of the population. It is the first piece of enabling legislation for realising the government’s ambitions for introducing universal healthcare. The minister said he was acutely aware of the problems confronting the public healthcare system, but improving its quality was an ongoing task, and NHI could not wait for that to be completed. NHI is at heart a set of health financing reforms the government hopes will change SA’s deeply inequitable access to healthcare, which sees wealthier people paying for generally high quality private healthcare services, while less well-off people depend on a...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.