Taxes will need to be increased by up to 37% for NHI to work
NUMSA wants immediate NHI implementation despite this.
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A new report issued on the potential success rate of the government's
National Health Insurance scheme has shown that taxes will need to be increased
by up to 37% if the idea is to work.
Econex, an economics consultancy firm, said that while the government is
currently spending R84 billion on health care each year, the new NHI will
actually cost R244 billion - money that the government simply does not have.
"This is an expensive program," said Nicola Theron, a director at Econex.
"The danger is that someone can easily say, we can find the R200 billion
somewhere, but we can't. Politically, it would be difficult to increase taxes by
33% to 37%, and this will place a very heavy burden on the fiscus.
Theron said that while Econex agrees that the inequalities in South Africa's
health care should be addressed, the current proposal by the government to
introduce a National Health Insurance scheme is "not fiscally feasible."
In meantime, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
slammed the research.
The trade union said in a statement: "We view this as a part of a broader
ploy by health profiteers to undermine the progressive health reforms that are
being introduced by government on behalf of the workers and the poor. This shows
that health profiteers are hell bent on maintaining and perpetuating the old
apartheid and racialized health care inequalities in our country."
NUMSA called for the ANC government to speed up the release of the NHI policy
for public comments and participation.
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