A health bill will soon be introduced in Parliament as an alternative to the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act that was signed nearly eight months ago.
This comes after the DA and the Freedom Front Plus have accepted a petition and a draft bill named Healthcare Funding Reform Bill from trade union, Solidarity, to be introduced in the national legislature in line with parliamentary rules.
The bill, which was drafted by the Solidarity Research Institute, was tabled on Thursday and shared with parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Solidarity said that should the bill become law, it will result in medical schemes being able to buy quality medical care for all working South Africans.
Freedom Front Plus parliamentary leader Corné Mulder said his party supported Solidarity’s petition and bill that offered a better and more viable alternative to the unaffordable NHI Act.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the NHI Bill into law in May 2024 despite a massive wave of objections and threats of litigations from opposition parties, health, and civil society groups.
Mulder said the Bill aimed to empower medical aid schemes to make high quality healthcare available to all working South Africans.
“The FF Plus maintains its stance that the NHI, in its current form, is rash and unaffordable, and that it will further paralyse healthcare in South Africa instead of offering relief.
“The Bill essentially aims to compel all working persons to join a medical scheme so as to distribute the risk and burden among more members,” Mulder said.
He also said his party realised that public healthcare fell far short and that millions simply cannot afford private healthcare.
“This offers a viable alternative to the impractical NHI, and the FF Plus will support it all the way,” Mulder said.
DA chief whip George Michalakis said they accepted the petition and draft bill as part of our whole-of-society approach of dealing with the NHI Act.
Michalakis said parliamentary rules allowed for petitions to the National Assembly to be sponsored by an MP, and both the DA and FF Plus will cooperate with Solidariteit in its opposition to the NHI.
He also said The DA has campaigned against the NHI on various occasions before and after the 2024 General Elections against the NHI, stating that it will destroy any form of quality healthcare in South Africa.
“We have also advocated for alternatives that will see the retention of private health care, whilst ensuring quality universal healthcare for all. We continue this fight and welcome all opposition and partners who stand with us in solidarity,” he said.
“We, therefore, welcome Solidariteit’s opposition to the NHI in its current form and its participation in the democratic process. The DA will ensure that this petition is dealt with by Parliament in the correct way,” said Michalakis.
Solidarity Research Institute’s economic researcher Theuns du Buisson said South Africa unquestionably needed a solution to its current healthcare problems as the public system was collapsing under the pressure of millions of patients and the private system is unaffordable for most.
“It is clear that the NHI Act, as signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year, is not or cannot be the answer. Our bill proposes healthcare funding that requires that every person who has a job must belong to a medical aid so that the risk can be borne by many more members,” Du Buisson said.
“The most basic medical aid fund will cost around R1 000 per month, but when the medical aid tax credit and an employer contribution are deducted from that, we are looking at an entry-level plan at around R300 per month for the individual’s own cost. This is entirely feasible,” he said.
In a statement, Solidarity said their healthcare funding bill will also allow medical schemes to waive prescribed minimum benefits on certain medical aid plans.
Du Buisson said unlike the NHI, the proposed health scheme will not be funded by increased taxes but by smaller portions of employer and employee contributions together with the medical aid tax credit that also already exists.