CABINET DISCUSSIONS
National health bill gets a foot in the door
The long-awaited National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill is before a cabinet subcommittee, a vital step before it can be signed off by the full Cabinet and tabled in Parliament. A key provision of the bill will be the establishment of an NHI fund to pay for health services. "It is likely to be discussed by Cabinet within the next couple of weeks," the health department’s deputy director-general for regulation and compliance, Anban Pillay, said on Sunday. His remarks follow President Cyril Ramaphosa’s affirmation of the government’s commitment to universal healthcare in his state of the nation address on Friday, when he said the NHI bill would be submitted to Parliament within weeks. NHI is a set of health financing reforms to provide everyone with healthcare services free at the point of delivery. It is enshrined in the social solidarity principle that everyone should contribute according to their means and will receive benefits according to their needs, in effect ensuring the rich and...
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