The government’s own National Planning Commission (NPC) has recommended that the medical scheme industry should be allowed to continue operating indefinitely, despite the planned introduction of the new National Health Insurance (NHI), according to BusinessTech.
In a submission to Parliament this week, the NPC said that while it was broadly in favour of universal healthcare, South Africa would be better served by ‘harnessing’ private healthcare facilities rather than phasing them out in favour of the government-run NHI.
Limiting the role of the private sector risked potentially destroying both private and public sectors simultaneously, the NPC warned.
According to the NHI proposal, once the mega state healthcare system is fully implemented, medical schemes may only offer complementary cover to services not reimbursable by the NHI Fund.
The NPC warns that this clause has significant implications for the economy, and the private healthcare sector in particular.
The NPC noted, among other things, that current medical scheme administration and payment systems are world-class and must be used to benefit the economy and the country as a whole, and that the private sector is currently better placed to drive future innovation which can be used to grow the economy by servicing other markets on the continent and globally.
The Institute of Race Relations has long warned of the risks posed by the NHI scheme. The IRR has also devoted much attention to alternative proposals aimed at retaining and expanding the best of private healthcare in the country and remedying dysfunction and mismanagement that blight much of the public healthcare system.
IRR head of policy research Dr Anthea Jeffery has pointed out that ‘(universal) health coverage is already available, mostly for no charge, through the country’s public clinics and hospitals’.
‘To function better, these need merit-based appointments, strict accountability for poor performance, and effective action against corruption and wasteful spending.’
Jeffery argues that public-private partnerships ‘would also help improve their operation’.
She adds: ‘The burden on the public system should also be reduced by increasing access to private healthcare. Low-cost medical schemes and primary health insurance policies should be allowed, while poor households should be helped to join these schemes or buy these policies through tax-funded health vouchers.’