LETTER: Health plan authoritarian

The latest iteration of the national health insurance (NHI) policy paper induces a depressing sense of déjà vu. We are given no better an understanding of material details such as how much the scheme will cost and where the money to pay for it will come from. Despite alarm bells ringing throughout the economy, the government is going ahead with the scheme in an increasingly authoritarian attempt to limit our civil liberties and freedoms. The proposed mandatory payments into the central NHI Fund will crowd out private insurance. Cash-strapped individuals will no longer be able to afford to pay voluntary private insurance premiums when burdened with a mandatory NHI payment as well. Those unable to pay both will be forced to resort to using our already overstretched public health service. South African labour should be fuming since NHI necessitates an increase in the taxes levied on an already overtaxed population. The proposed payroll tax is a tax on labour. Workers will bear the cost...