Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi will on Thursday brief the media on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill‚ his staff announced on Monday morning.
The content of both bills‚ which have yet to be published in the Government Gazette for comment‚ are keenly awaited by consumers and industry alike as they contain potentially wide-reaching reforms. Both bills have been approved by cabinet.
The NHI Bill is the first enabling piece of legislation for the government’s NHI policy‚ which aims to introduce universal healthcare. Its goal is to provide healthcare services that are free at the point of delivery.
The bill is expected to closely follow the government’s NHI white paper‚ and establish an NHI fund to pay for healthcare services‚ but will not provide the details of how the NHI is to be financed.
The Medical Schemes Amendment Bill paves the way for reforms to the medical scheme industry‚ which has seen no significant legislative changes for more than a decade.
The minister told Business Day in a May interview that the bill proposes changes to the minimum basket of care that all medical schemes must provide to their members‚ scraps co-payments for these benefits‚ and introduces a uniform tariff. At the time‚ the minister said the reforms were intended to increase consumer protection.
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