Discovery Insurance Welcomes NHI

NHI welcomed by Discovery Life They say the new scheme will take time to affect the group's membership base.

The Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Insurance, Dr. Jonathan Broomberg, said that he did not believe that the introduction of a National Health Insurance scheme in South Africa would pose a threat to the group.

"At the point where the services that citizens get from the public system are truly competitive with what they can get from the private healthcare, at that point we will understand that private health insurance will face a significant competitive challenge from the NHI," he said.

Broomberg said that he believes that the threat of NHI posing a threat is not imminent.

"I think we are looking at a long process of improving public healthcare system before citizens get what the get in the private healthcare system," he said.

In September, the African National Congress announced that it would be introducing a National Health Insurance system that is set to benefit all South Africans.

Broomberg, speaking to the media, said that countries where a NHI system was in place, such as the United Kingdom, still had a very strong private health insurance industry.

He predicted that even if the South African NHI reached a good standard, many people would still opt to pay extra for private healthcare.

"You might be surprised to hear what I am going to say next. I would tell you that as a citizen of this country and as a leader of an important business in this country we would welcome that, but why would we welcome that, because that would be very good for this country," he said.

"If we have got a public system that is giving all the citizens of this country great healthcare and what it is doing is taking away my business I would be delighted," he concluded. "I don't want to run a business that thrives because the public sector is weak. I would rather Discovery find other products."