Expect to see your dentist only once every 16 years under NHI – analysis
Millions of low-paid and economically vulnerable citizens today find they are without medical insurance and either now must pay directly out of pocket to access private facilities or rely on the vagaries of a state controlled system, according to a new analysis by the Free Market Foundation (FMF).
This is likely to lead to major issues due to the massive lack of resources in the public healthcare sector, said the FMF.
“Despite clear evidence that South Africa cannot afford NHI and that government infrastructure, a sufficient number of medical practitioners, and the ability to effectively manage NHI, are badly lacking, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi is pressing ahead in the face of opposition.”
“Treasury struggled to raise R28 billion in this year’s budget, so the estimated price tag for the NHI of R369 billion (in 2017 prices) is pure fantasy. Yet, the private sector continues to be marginalised.”
According to Michael Settas of medical aid KaeloXelus, the NHI not only faces a formidable challenge in funding, but there is also a severe shortage of healthcare providers, a massive disease burden, and a blundering healthcare bureaucracy.
“By extrapolating the existing, very poor dentist-to-patient ratios in the state sector, a dentist will have capacity to see the same patient only once every 16 years,” said Settas.
“Government should not attempt to provide free cover for all citizens, but should focus on those who cannot afford medical insurance and leave those who can afford it to pay for their own healthcare arrangements,” he said.
Unconstitutional
Due to the mass deprivation caused by the new NHI, it now also borders on being unconstitutional, according to Patrick Bracher of Norton Rose Fulbright.
Specifically, millions of South Africans have overnight been deprived of their section 27 right to healthcare and their section 25 right to property, said Bracher.
“Accident and health products amount to ‘property’ under section 25 of the Constitution, making these regulations potentially unconstitutional.”
“No-one should be deprived of property except in terms of the law of general application – not by a law targeted at some medical insurance policyholders.”
“And no one should be deprived of property arbitrarily without compensation – there is no recourse for anyone who has paid a short-term premium for the last 15 years and is now deprived of their existing cover.”
The demarcation regulations, that draw a line between medical insurance products and medical schemes, came into force on 1 April 2017.
Existing policies will be eliminated from 1 January 2018. Limited “gap cover” and “hospital cash plans” are allowed, but primary healthcare insurance policies are banned.
The consequence is that up to two million policyholders who have exercised their freedom of choice and rights to obtain primary healthcare through affordable insurance products, are now uninsured, said the FMF.
Read: Over 200,000 South Africans could lose their medical aids due to NHI regulations: report
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