The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa) is calling for compulsory medical scheme membership as an interim measure to implement National Health Insurance (NHI), which would cut premiums by 20% to 30%.
Beeld reports that Hasa chair Melanie da Costa says premiums for medical schemes could be 20% to 30% lower if legislation is passed to make membership compulsory. This is because the risk profile of medical schemes would improve dramatically if younger and healthier members are forced to join.
The organisation is opposed to the proposal in the NHI White Paper to take away medical scheme tax credits for members without having the necessary transition measures in place.
Vishal Brijlal, a technical adviser on secondment from the Clinton Health Access Initiative, said the hospitals the tax proposal would account for only R20bn of the R300bn needed for the NHI and that ‘innovative’ fiscal solutions need to be found. Da Costa released research findings of Hasa showing the private hospital industry contributes R55bn annually to the economy or 1,3% of GDP.
[link url="http://media24.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/externallogin.aspx?returnurl=%2fepaper%2fpageview.aspx%3fissue%3d32682017092700000000001001%26page%3d11%26articleid%3db603ee13-4db9-4fff-bb04-1528f6def900%26articlekey%3dRnmbNvnTYv4LOk16B%252bnbbA%253d%253d%26previewmode%3d2"]Beeld report[/link]