Johnathan Paoli
THE National Health Insurance Bill that aims to provide universal healthcare to all South Africans has been passed in the National Council of Provinces.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the Covid-19 pandemic illustrated what the country’s health sector was capable of.
“Others believe that we must wait until economic growth, but it’s at a time when things are difficult that we must pull together and make sure we can share the resources which are available,” Phaahla said.
The National Assembly passed the bill in June this year, with 125 voting against and 205 voting in favour of it.
African Christian Democratic Party MP Marie Sukers said the legislation will have far-reaching consequences.
“The consequences of this legislation will be far-reaching and very costly with the inevitable consequence we may face an exodus out of the country by medical corporations and human capital,” Sukers said.
Eight of the provinces supported the bill but the Western Cape rejected it.
During the final debate, the DA, EFF, IFP and the FF+ all rejected the bill and said that it was an unworkable model, and implementation would not be financially feasible.
The bill was passed without amendments, despite stakeholders, including Business for South Africa and Business Unity South Africa, making submissions for its amendment.
Business for South Africa’s Martin Kingston said that the bill does not pass constitutionality and once signed into law will give rise to countless legal challenges.
“We will be tied up in litigation at the very time when the country, the government, and the individuals concerned can neither afford the time nor money to do that and would be better, it seems to me, to apply their minds to make sure they’ve taken all of these factors into consideration and to put in place a proposition that’s going to meet everybody’s requirements as effectively as possible,” Kingston said.
The bill is expected to be sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for consideration and signing.
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