NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE
Aaron Motsoaledi deflects attack by Cosatu on national health scheme
Cosatu accuses the health minister of betraying voters by offering medical schemes a lifeline
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi moved on Tuesday to defend his position on National Health Insurance (NHI) after Cosatu accused him of betraying voters by offering medical schemes a lifeline. The NHI white paper released in 2015 says a single NHI fund should be established to pay for services and relegates medical schemes to providing "complementary" services. Health director-general Precious Matsoso and Motsoaledi have recently signalled a potentially softer approach, in which medical schemes would continue to exist. At the weekend, Motsoaledi said medical schemes would need to consolidate and reduce the number of options they offered, but they would play a role in the transition to NHI. Cosatu on Tuesday accused the Department of Health of prioritising the needs of what it called "private health profiteers" over those of poor people. "The Department of Health is betraying NHI by handing over the NHI to private hands, and is also betraying the voters who were promised a single-pay...
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