President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday signed the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law in Pretoria.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ramaphosa said: “We are gathered here to bear witness to the signing into law of the NHI, which at the stroke of a pen is about to become an Act of Parliament.The NHI Bill seeks to provide universal access to health care services in the country in accordance with the National Health Insurance White Paper and the Constitution of South Africa.
Improving quality of services: The public sector has constraint budgets that are not sufficient to provide health care services for the 84% of the population that relies on public sector for health care. This results in an overburdened public sector that is characterised by underservicing. The private sector, that serves 14% of the population, is characterised by rising costs of care and overservicing without demonstrating much improvement on health outcomes.
Integration of the healthcare system: The fragmented, two-tiered system undermines principles of equity and social solidarity and leads to a health system where resources are distributed unfairly. The NHI will promote equitable access to care, and this will be achieved by cross-subsidisation among the population. The NHI fosters social cohesion and contributes to developing a society that is compassionate across all socio-economic groups.
This is to make sure that everyone is able to receive health care services when they are sick, at a facility close to them .You will register with the NHI Fund when you go to a clinic, GP or hospital that has a contract with the NHI for the first time. You will not need to register again when you go to any other clinic, GP or hospital because the NHI system will make sure that your records are available at every contracted health care provider.
The department of Health has a collaboration with Department of Home Affairs to address birth and death records. Yes, the NHI benefit package will be comprehensive. It is important to bear in mind that the NHI benefits are not confined like most current medical scheme benefits. In the present system of medical schemes, in a desperate attempt to contain the escalating prices, a lot of benefits have been reduced.
Based on the NHI Bill, NHI will be predominantly funded through general revenue allocations, supplemented by: a payroll tax payable by employers and employees and a surcharge on individuals’ taxable income. The NHI will redistribute money from the current multi-payer system of nine provincial health systems, tax rebates, levies, conditional grants and consolidate into one Fund. The pooling into one risk pool will ensure appropriate cross-subsidisation between the young and old, rich and poor, healthy and unhealthy.
Private General Practitioners will be a part of multi-disciplinary networks in their communities and will be paid by the NHI Fund using a capitation model. The health care provider must agree to, and comply with, the requirements of the NHI Fund to be accredited and contracted with the Fund. This includes connection to the Fund digital systems and reporting.
The health professional regulatory bodies such as HPCSA and SANC are statutory bodies which regulate the registered professionals with the councils. All health professionals offering services in South Africa must be registered with the relevant professional bodies and comply with the rules and regulations and requirements of continuous professional development of the various bodies.
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