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Mail & Guardian
national health insurance billlatest news & developments
No patience: Many fear that the ANC government does not have the capacity to make its national health insurance plan work. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Daily Maverick/Gallo Images via Getty Images
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

The NHI and the risks of populism on the eve of a crucial election

The president is attempting to shift the election campaign focus away from the government’s failures towards a promise to deliver more, although its track record suggests it cannot

  • Emsie Ferreira
10 min read
The future of our healthcare system is in our hands; we approach it with responsibility, collaboration and a deep commitment to the well-being of all people. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
AIDS

Collapse of the health system must be reversed, says TAC

Bill which aims to provide universal care through a state-run fund is being reviewed by President Cyril Ramaphosa This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers.…

  • Umamah Bakharia
1 min read
With labour seemingly sidelined in talks affecting the economy’s future, big business isn’t as hard done by as some believe. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
ANC

Some more equal than others in South Africa’s economic tug of war

With labour seemingly sidelined in talks affecting the economy’s future, big business isn’t as hard done by as some believe

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Late last week, the Social Policy Initiative released a statement revealing that it had called on Ramaphosa to urgently host an inclusive debate on South Africa’s macroeconomic priorities in the wake of recent media coverage. (Emmanuel DUNAND / POOL / AFP)
ANC

Ramaphosanomics cuts SA adrift

World leaders are closely associated with the economic policies they espouse, a fact that does not bode well for South Africa’s president

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
A Male nurse assists one of the injured initiates at St Barnabas Hospital in Mthatha, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / City Press / Leon Sadiki)
ANC

Ideology weighs down the NHI

Only the rich have unrestricted access to medical care but the state’s ability to deliver universal health is rightly questioned

  • Emsie Ferreira
9 min read
South Africa does not even have 60 child and adolescent psychiatry specialists and only 20 are in the public sector. (Illustrations: John McCann)
CHILDREN S INSTITUTE

Child and adolescent mental health services facing crisis

South Africa does not even have 60 child and adolescent psychiatry specialists and only 20 are in the public sector

  • Eunice Masson
4 min read
We have no blueprint for how to create an African NHI that addresses the injustices of the past. But this also gives us an incredible opportunity to lead. (Paul Botes/M&G)
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

The NHI could provide a dose of social justice for South Africa

But to do so, it will have to provide genuine universal access to marginalised communities, including refugees and migrants

  • Kayla Arnold
6 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.
COUNTRY

South Africa can easily afford the NHI

​Countries with much lower per capita GDP have successfully implemented universal healthcare

  • Robert Yates
5 min read
In India, legal training helped people hold their health system to account and slash child deaths. Some experts in SA say revitalising the country’s largely defunct clinic committees can be a way to hold the NHI to account. (Money Sharma/AFP)
COUNTRY

NHI: How you can take back your power

Public comment on the NHI has closed, but there are other ways you can add your voice

  • Joan Van Dyk
6 min read
There are several aspects of the National Health Insurance Bill that still need to be thrashed out before it is implemented
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

​Three key components of the NHI Bill that need to change

Have a say in the future health system of South Africa

  • Sasha Stevenson
7 min read
Humiliated: A year ago Mothi Kapunda went to the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital when she went into labour. She felt the staff belittled her because she doesn’t fully understand the languages used in the hospital. (Luntu Ndzandze)
COUNTRY

Forgotten people of Platfontein

Public consultations for the country’s new health Bill show how language barriers can keep healthcare away from those who need it

  • Pontsho Pilane
  • Nelisiwe Msomi
8 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)
COUNTRY

The power, the purse strings and the NHI

The NHI Bill proposes major shifts in who controls our national and provincial health budgets. Will the draft legislation rob provinces of control?

  • Russel Rensburg
7 min read
Sections 36 to 40 of the Act require every health establishment, health agency and health personnel providing prescribed services to obtain a certificate of need before they may operate. (Paul Botes)
COUNCIL FOR MEDICAL SCHEMES

The NHI Bill is ‘not doom and gloom’

In a panel discussion hosted by the M&G, experts broke down what the NHI will practically mean for consumers

  • Tshegofatso Mathe
4 min read