SAIRR Nixes Idea of National Health Insurance Scheme

SAIRR warns that private healthcare will be under threat because of NHI This due to being a direct threat to the high level of private health care.

June 30 - A report issued by SAIRR, the South African Institute of Race Relations, nixed the idea of the proposed National Health Insurance scheme in the country, saying that it posed a direct threat to the high level of private health care.

In the report, the Deputy Chief Executive, Frans Cronje, said that there were many problems involved in introducing such a scheme when the current public healthcare system was in "disarray".

Some of the problems facing the current system include poor general management, poor conditions in the country's hospitals, a dire shortage of staff members, high incidents of crime and low levels of security.

Cronje noted that by fixing many of the problems found in the public health system, citizens would be able to enjoy a good standard of care that would be on par to the introduction of the proposed NHI.

Cronje said that the excellent standards of the private healthcare system in South Africa make this sector a "national asset."

As such, he believes that a hastily-introduced NHI would undermine this sector substantially.

Another issue brought up was the fact that the NHI scheme proposed by the government was not financially feasible.

Should all South Africans be covered as planned by the new scheme, this could set the government back by as much as R465 billion a year. With only 11% of the population earning a salary that is considered taxable, the chance of such a scheme working is highly improbable.

Cronje also pointed out that only countries that have low levels of unemployment, stable tax bases and high net incomes - an antithesis of the current picture in South Africa - run successful National Health Systems.