Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has given a hint of what South Africans can expect once the National Health Insurance (NHI) becomes operational.
Motsoaledi said the NHI aims to improve the healthcare system by making sure that everyone gets proper healthcare despite their background.
The South African government has been delving into the idea of NHI for many years. Some people are against the idea of universal health coverage.
Speaking at the South African Communist Party (SACP)’s fifth Special National Congress conference last week, Motsoaledi said children starting school and pregnant women will benefit first.
The Minister argued that National Health Insurance is important because it will help take the burden off public hospitals. He claimed that it will also see more people covered by affordable health insurance
However, the NHI has been faced with many challenges, which amongst others are fears of corruption in governance, possible additional tax, and the ambiguity of the role of medical schemes and the delivery system which could lead to a shortage of providers. But, Motsoaledi said this is the direction the country should take to offer everyone quality healthcare.
“All other countries are moving to mandatory prepayment. Now NHI is a mandatory prepayment. The wealth organisation called universal health coverage, not universal healthcare, as people are saying. Universal health coverage means everybody must be covered with the money that is available for health within the borders of that country.”
Motsoaledi also hinted at how NHI will benefit learners starting school through mandatory eye and ear testing.
“We are going to make a rule, every child, regardless of which home they come from, must have an eye test and a hearing test, that is going to come first. We will cost it and show the nation that our first step of NHI is this. All kids.”
He says pregnant women without medical aid will also be able to see specialists during their pregnancy through the NHI.
“Our next step, pregnant women, we will draw a program where every woman who is pregnant knows their package, that they can go and see a GP four times during their pregnancy and especially twice and the cities can double that. It is very affordable, we can afford it, and I can go on and on and on. Those are the things that will be costed. You can’t cost the whole NHI.”
Earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa in his weekly letter said that access to quality healthcare should not depend on one’s ability to pay and that “through careful planning, monitoring, and the strategic allocation of resources, we can ensure the achievement of universal health coverage”.
The National Health Insurance was signed into law in May 2024 in a move to level the playing field in the health system.
