Healthcare Funders Board Welcomes Private Sector Regulation

Private healthcare sector to be regulated This news has been welcomed by the Board of Healthcare Funders.

The Board of Healthcare Funders in South Africa welcomed this week the news that rising healthcare costs in the private healthcare sector would now be regulated.

Over the last decade, hospital costs in South Africa have increased by an incredible 75%, and specialists charge 60% more than they should.

The spokeswoman for the the Board of Healthcare Funders, Heidi Kruger, said that a framework that includes tariff negotiation would address soaring prices in the private healthcare sector.

According to figures released, this year claims to private medical schemes outweighed member contributions by a staggering R2.5 billion.

"A tariff negotiation framework essentially offers the industry the promise of the opportunity to self regulate again," said Kruger.

While the private healthcare sector is not obliged to take part in the new framework, it is nevertheless a good starting point to discuss prices with all the parties involved.

"There has been a long history of imbalanced and problematic price determination in the private health care sector and various other recent developments have exacerbated the disarray," said Kruger.

The framework and regulation could also serve as a springboard for the planned National Health Insurance scheme that has been proposed by the government.