Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

National Health Insurance

latest news & developments
Quality healthcare in South Africa depends on how much you earn and where you live.
SOUTH AFRICA

Can South Africa build NHI while failing to employ its own doctors?

South Africa's healthcare system is facing a contradiction that should concern every citizen. Across the country, hospitals and clinics report shortages of doctors and healthcare…

4 min read
AARON MOTSOALEDI
Video

Can talks save South Africa’s NHI from a courtroom war?

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has met the South African Medical Association — one of the organisations taking him to court about the National Health Insurance Act — to talk…

  • Mia Malan
  • Anna-Maria van Niekerk
13 min read
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the state of the nation address. (GCIS)
ANC

In Sona, Ramaphosa signals shift from crisis management to consolidation

For the first time in several years, electricity did not dominate the president’s address

  • Hasina Kathrada
7 min read
In his 2026 State of the Nation Address, the president once again committed to economic revitalization. Photo: GCIS
ANC

Ramaphosa talks tough on gangs, corruption

The president said the South African National Defence Force would be deployed to support police in tackling gang violence and illegal mining

  • Hasina Kathrada
6 min read
We talked to experts about their take on a few of the most pressing public health issues this year. (Jay Caboz)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTHCARE

Here’s what’s on South Africa’s 2026 public health agenda

We talked to experts in obesity, tobacco, artificial intelligence, HIV, TB and the NHI to find out what we can expect — and what we can’t — this year

  • Ida Jooste
  • Tanya Pampalone
18 min read
‘Unsupervised, unstructured, non-standardised, unsafe and altogether substandard.’ This is what was said about the care at two public hospitals in the Northern Cape last year. But is the way quality is measured a fair test? (Delwyn Verasamy)
HEALTH

Unsafe and substandard. Is that what public healthcare in SA looks like?

Claims of poor standards at South Africa’s government health facilities are often bandied about — and get hackles raised when the National Health Insurance is mentioned, to boot

  • Linda Pretorius
  • Jacques Verryn
8 min read
Doctors will need to pay attention not only to a patient’s physical health but also the person’s emotional, social and psychospiritual aspects.
CANCER

National Health Insurance system will mean little if we don’t offer the right kind of care

Although the NHI offers much-needed reform, it must find a new way to care for patients – an approach that treats people emotionally, physically, socially, psychologically and…

  • Shadrick Mazaza
5 min read
Private sector healthcare schemes will still have a role to play when the government implements the National Health Insurance because the treasury cannot finance the system on its own.
BUSINESS

Treasury reassures private sector over National Health Insurance fears

The private healthcare sector and medical aid schemes have warned that, if they are excluded, it would damage the entire system

  • Aarti Bhana
4 min read
Innovation in the health system is not a luxury, it is a necessity in the South African context. Photo: Denvor de Wee/Gallo Images/Foto24)
3D PRINTING

NHI: Innovations could help universal healthcare become a reality

Investment in African-led, context-specific technology such as 3D printing and artificial intelligence is vital

  • Cherise Dunn
5 min read
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana did not announce a budget allocation to plug the gap created by the termination of USAid funding to HIV/Aids organisations (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)
BUDGET

No allocations for Pepfar in health budget

The recent termination of USAid to HIV/Aids and TB organisations in South Africa was a bone of contention in the 2025 budget

  • Aarti Bhana
3 min read
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says medical aids cost too much. Will tax alone be enough to pay for NHI? We look at the numbers. (GCIS)
AGING POPULATION

Is tax alone enough to pay for the National Health Insurance?

The NHI Act says funding healthcare for all should come from tax but economic growth is in a vice and many people are without jobs

  • Linda Pretorius
  • Jacques Verryn
8 min read
There has been nothing remarkable about the government of national unity’s first year in office, but the steadying of the ship has been invaluable. Photo: GCIS
DONALD TRUMP

Editorial: Perhaps we can work together

Behind the bitter press conferences, buried beneath the combative media headlines, realpolitik was at work

  • Editorial
3 min read
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the state of the nation address. (GCIS)
CLIMATE CHANGE

Ramaphosa sticks to structural reform path, stands up to Washington

The president warned about nationalism and protectionism and said South Africa would not change its values or policies

  • Emsie Ferreira
7 min read
In his 2025 State of the Nation address the president promised improved healthcare access and infrastructure. (Photo by Guillem Sartorio/Getty Images)
ANC

Ramaphosa reaffirms NHI commitment but is silent on private medical aids

In his 2025 State of the Nation address the president promised improved healthcare access and infrastructure

  • Mandisa Makgakga
4 min read
Young people understand social media dynamics, peer-to-peer communication and community mobilisation in ways that can be used improve health services. Photo: Bulungula Incubator
ASONWABISA SIPATANA

Rural areas need community health workers — and so does the NHI

‘Nnomakhayas’ understand a community’s values, practices and problems, as well as modern medicine, making them effective carers

  • Sigrid Kite-Banks