LETTER: Motsoaledi is wrong about NHS

Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi has responded angrily to accusations that he is following a communist agenda in pursuing the new National Health Insurance (NHI) system, in terms of which private medical aid funds will be prohibited from covering any medical procedure that is performed by the NHI.

The minister responded: “If this is communism, so is the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)”. In other words, if we are communist, so is the UK.

But what are the facts? Are UK private medical funds banned from offering services offered by the NHS? The answer is a resounding no. Private funds are permitted to — and do — cover the full range of health services, including those undertaken by the UK state. Of course, all UK taxpayers contribute to the NHS, but if they have the desire and the means they are perfectly entitled to purchase private medical cover and be treated by private doctors and surgeons. Often the same specialist works for the state and privately.

The UK system is therefore poles apart from that envisaged in the NHI Act. It is a hybrid public-private system. Such a hybrid system would be far preferable for SA too. Existing private medical cover could be expanded to all employees — at least doubling the present 13-million beneficiaries (that is, members and their dependants). For those outside employment the state would directly fund public hospitals and clinics, as at present.

All that would be needed to make this approach operate effectively is ethical and competent leadership in the state health sector.

Willem Cronje
Cape Town

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