Treasury Reassures Private Sector Over National Health Insurance Fears

Private sector healthcare schemes will still have a role to play when the government implements the National Health Insurance NHI because the treasury cannot finance the system on its own.

The possibility of the NHI squeezing out medical schemes is very unlikely for a very long time, if at all, according to Mark Blecher, the chief director of health and social development at the treasury.

Its not easy to raise taxes and the role of private financing is very important in our context, and its very difficult for government to take on that private financing, so were going to continue to see a role for private medical schemes and a multi-scheme arrangement for many many years, he told a recent roundtable discussion on the insurance.

The government says it aims to ensure equitable access to quality healthcare and rectify the imbalances created by apartheid. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the contentious NHI Act on 15 May 2024 .

In his weekly newsletter after signing the law, Ramaphosa noted that at least 84 of South Africans use public health facilities and only 16 are covered by medical schemes that give them access to private healthcare facilities, which are often better-resourced.