EDITORIAL: Finding the NHI’s money fairy
Frighteningly, it appears that those mandated to explain the plan to the public exist in a parallel universe, where laws of basic mathematics and finance don’t apply
If you haven’t been particularly worried about the government’s plans to introduce National Health Insurance (NHI), it’s time to pay attention. Because not only is NHI forging ahead, but the economic incoherence in the plan is starting to become painfully clear.
In a nutshell, NHI is planned to be a form of nationalised medical aid, in which you’ll be taxed extra, and that money will go into a central fund, which will buy services from doctors and medical professionals who "contract in". As it’s planned, NHI will all but decimate medical aids, limiting them to providing only "complementary services" for those able to pay extra...
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