Discovery Health says it is “cautiously optimistic” that the government and business can find solutions to the contentious NHI Bill, which plans to squeeze private medical schemes out into the cold.
Last Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa held a meeting with the leadership of Business Unity South Africa (Busa) to discuss the matter, with the nation’s biggest business lobby group saying it would suggest solutions to address its concerns with the law it previously called unaffordable and unconstitutional.
“I got a good-faith feeling from that meeting that there’s a desire to find solutions – that’s a much better road than conflict and litigation,” Discovery CEO Adrian Gore, who is also Busa’s vice-president, said afterwards.
If implemented, private health insurers like Discovery could lose market share because the law allows them to only pay for products and services not covered by the fund.
“I don’t think anyone believes the status quo is acceptable,” Gore said. “I think everyone’s saying, ‘how do you make this thing operate so that it helps all South Africans?’”
Discovery’s modelling shows that South Africa will need R200bn a year in additional funding to make the aim of achieving universal healthcare access workable.
“We do not believe NHI is workable without private-sector inclusion,” Gore said at an earlier investor briefing. “We need more funding, we need more doctors, we need more resources, and that’s a key issue.”
Meanwhile, reports BusinessTech, the insurer does not expect the new law to affect its operations in the short term because it has yet to be fully implemented.
The first phase of the NHI is slated to run from 2023 to 2026, during which time the government will establish the related fund and complete other groundwork.
The second phase – the mobilisation of resources and operationalisation of the fund as a purchaser of healthcare services through a system of mandatory prepayment – is slated to run from 2026 to 2028.
“I don’t think people should be concerned about in the short term, but in the medium to long term, we have to find solutions,” Gore said.
BusinessTech article – Discovery ‘hopeful’ for NHI fix (Open access)
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