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The ANC welcomes the Cabinet decision to release the National Health Insurance (NHI) Green Paper for public discussion. We also commend the leadership of the Minister of Health and his team for the manner in which Government has driven the process of developing the NHI policy, including the work of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on NHI, comprised of domestic and international experts in the field.
We have now entered the phase of public debate and discussion on the kind of the national health care system we seek to build in South Africa.
Out of this public engagement process, the ANC expects a consolidated national consensus around:
• The measures needed to overcome the huge inequalities that characterise our fragmented, inefficient two-tier health care system, in which huge health care resources of the country serve a minority section of the population, contributing to negative health outcomes. The current system is increasingly unsustainable and unaffordable.
• The need to fundamentally change the way we fund and provide health care – in both public and private sectors. Given the huge health care resources at the country’s command, the question is not whether NHI is affordable, but about making quality health care affordable to everyone. This includes funding for health services such as ARVs on a sustainable basis. It is possible to establish a publicly funded and publicly administered NHI, which provides comprehensive and quality care to everyone and accessible free (no user-fees for services covered by NHI) at the point of service.
• The building a single and integrated health care system (i.e. overcoming the present two-tier system) that is more strongly founded on the principles of primary health care approach; the right to health care; social solidarity and universal coverage; and a not-for-profit and publicly administered national health insurance fund.
The ANC encourages all our people and various organisations - workers, professionals, students, youth, women and business – to actively take part in this important national discussion.
It is time to work towards a health system change and a national health insurance system we can all be proud of.