Five reasons why the DA is against the National Health Insurance bill

The DA has made it clear that it does not support the National Health Insurance bill, which was proposed by health minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize last week. 

The party has raised numerous concerns, most of which stem from the nationalisation of healthcare.  Here are the DA's five concerns: 

Provinces will be powerless

The party insists the nationalisation of the bill will destroy the healthcare system at provincial level, strip the provincial structures of their powers and essentially only benefit the politically connected. 

"It is bound to destroy the health system as we know it by fragmenting it, eroding provincial powers, centralising and nationalising healthcare, and establishing a multi-billion rand SOE that will be in the hands of the politically connected few."

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South Africans will have no choice

The DA also lamented that South Africans will have no choice but to use the government healthcare system, as private healthcare will be contracted by the state. The effects of this, among others, is that healthcare will be under no pressure to improve its services, as there will be no alternative services available for the consumer. 

Lack of accountability

Holding provincial structures to account will soon be a thing of the past, since the bill will see all hospitals being managed at a national level. This, says the DA, will also kill community-based healthcare, which forms part of primary healthcare. 

Private sector, economy will suffer

The consolidation of government and private sector funds is another concern expressed by the DA. This, they say, will "collapse" the private sector and the economy. Describing the bill as the "nuclear" of healthcare, the party said the improvement of state healthcare must not equate to the collapse of private healthcare. 

Constitutional concerns

Mmusi Maimane has written to Parliamentary speaker, Thandi Modise, questioning the constitutionality of the bill with regards to schedule 4 of the constitution, which says that healthcare is under the concurrent jurisdiction of national and provincial government.