Bhekisisa 2386 - 12 Aug 2019
"Who will control the country’s healthcare purse and who will be left out? Find out and read why some are likely to be sceptical in the country’s quest for more equitable access to high-quality universal healthcare coverage.
Medical aids as we know them will disappear by 2026 under the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill released on 12 Aug 2019. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize unveiled the Bill in Pretoria. Under the NHI, the government will provide a package of comprehensive health services for free at private and public health facilities as part of its bid to more equitable access to quality healthcare.
Medical aids will eventually be relegated to providing top-up cover under the NHI — or coverage for procedures or treatment that fall outside government’s package of care. The government will, in turn, become the single largest purchaser of health services in the country, buying them from accredited private and public facilities with a centralised NHI Fund.
While comprehensive medical aids are still around, they will also be shifting to standardise a basic coverage package across the industry in line with what’s already on offer in the public sector, Mkhize revealed earlier this week at a Bhekisisa editor’s forum.
“We are working with the Council for Medical Schemes to ensure that every medical scheme pays for the same package of primary health care services as that provided by the public sector”, he explained. “This is part of the process to revise the Prescribed Minimum Benefits that the council is working on.”
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