{"id":60591,"date":"2024-02-06T08:27:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T08:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat"},"modified":"2024-02-06T08:44:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T08:44:15","slug":"nhi-faces-legal-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat","title":{"rendered":"NHI faces legal threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Business for South Africa (B4SA) have threatened legal action against the government over the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill should it become law.<\/p>\n

Parliament\u2019s National Council of Provinces approved the Bill in December and referred it to the president, who can either assent to it or ask lawmakers to amend it if deemed to be legally or technically flawed.<\/p>\n

BUSA and B4SA are preparing to submit a petition to Ramaphosa, requesting that the Bill be referred back to the National Assembly for amendment.<\/p>\n

The business groups said the NHI, in its current form, is unworkable, unimplementable, unaffordable, and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur concerns, recommendations, research, data, and inputs, as well as those made by a wide range of experts and affected stakeholders, have been ignored by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and the NCOP,\u201d Martin Kingston, B4SA Steering Committee Chair, said.<\/p>\n

Those entities are legally mandated to ensure that the NHI Bill passes constitutional muster and is properly configured to give healthcare the best possible chance of success.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amendments were made at all, including those suggested by the Department of Health itself, which is deeply concerning for our country and democracy,\u201d Kingston said.<\/p>\n

He added that the effects of passing this Bill are devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will materially delay access to universal health coverage, lead to disinvestment in the healthcare sector, further damage our already fragile economy, and create significant risks for the country in terms of the quality, management, and governance of healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n

BUSA and B4SA were clear that they are not against the creation of NHI but are against the implementation of it in its current form. The concerns raised by BUSA and B4SA echo those of one of the country\u2019s largest private hospital groups, Netcare.<\/p>\n

Netcare chairman Mark Bower said in his board chair\u2019s review at the end of last year that the NHI Bill is not the best way to ensure universal access to quality healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NHI Bill in its current form poses serious challenges of practicality and affordability,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n

It also lacks clarity on critical issues such as what will be covered by the NHI and what won\u2019t, how it will be financed, and how much it will cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are particularly concerned about specific provisions in the Bill that prevent medical aid schemes from funding services provided by the NHI,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn effect, these provisions take money out of the national health system and pose the real threat of collapsing the health insurance industry in SA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bower said there are far better alternatives that involve private and public sector collaboration.<\/p>\n

To this end, Netcare has made comprehensive submissions to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and the National Assembly on proposed amendments to the NHI Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointingly, however, the NCOP passed the Bill on 6 December 2023 without considering any such amendments,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n

Through Business Unity South Africa and Business for South Africa, Netcare submitted a formal petition to President Ramaphosa asking him to send the Bill back to Parliament for revision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe petition expresses our collective belief that the Bill in its current form is not only unworkable and unaffordable, but also unconstitutional on substantive and procedural grounds,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Business for South Africa (B4SA) have threatened legal action against the government over the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill should it become law. Parliament\u2019s National Council of Provinces approved the Bill in December and referred it to the president, who can either assent to it or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-60591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nNHI faces legal threat - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Business for South Africa (B4SA) have threatened legal action against the governm ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NHI faces legal threat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Business for South Africa (B4SA) have threatened legal action against the governm ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-06T08:27:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-06T08:44:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1707196347.576735.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"NHI faces legal threat\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-06T08:27:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-06T08:44:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\"},\"wordCount\":559,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1707196347.576735.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/nhi-faces-legal-threat\",\"name\":\"NHI faces legal threat - 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