{"id":63111,"date":"2024-03-21T13:22:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi"},"modified":"2024-03-21T14:01:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T14:01:28","slug":"1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi","title":{"rendered":"1,000% payroll tax increase needed to fund NHI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South Africa\u2019s largest medical aid provider, Discovery, has warned against implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill in its current form. However, it still supports universal healthcare.<\/p>\n

Discovery used its presentation of the company\u2019s interim results to outline its argument against implementing the NHI Bill as promulgated by the government.<\/p>\n

The NHI Bill is currently on President Ramaphosa\u2019s desk, waiting to be signed into law. This will set the wheel in motion regarding its implementation, which is set to take around a decade.<\/p>\n

The bill is moving forward despite strong criticism from businesses, including Discovery, and civil society groups. They argue the current form of the NHI was pushed through Parliament without sufficient public input.<\/p>\n

Discovery Group CEO Adrian Gore has previously labelled the NHI irrational in its current form and risks destabilising the tax base.<\/p>\n

Gore said the proposal doesn\u2019t sufficiently tackle the core issue of funding being too little for it to be viable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tragedy of our country is a narrow tax base with high levels of unemployment. You don\u2019t have sufficient money to buy comprehensive benefits for all South Africans,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t seem plausible. You could seriously destabilise the taxpayers that actually are funding the NHI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discovery reiterated its warnings in the presentation for their interim results on Wednesday. It urged the government to work with the private sector to make universal healthcare work in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The company laid out the tax increases that would be needed to fund the NHI, which would require around R200 billion in additional funding each year \u2013<\/p>\n

A 31% increase in personal income tax or<\/p>\n

A 6.5% increase in VAT or<\/p>\n

A ten times increase in payroll tax<\/p>\n

This is simply unsustainable for a country with an extremely small tax base, which is already being squeezed to raise revenue for the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to do that, I would argue that you would destroy the economy,\u201d Gore has previously said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a healthcare issue \u2013 it creates a real economic problem. I don\u2019t think people would bear paying 30% more taxes and having 70% less healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the NHI, in the form described in the NHI Bill, is not something the country can currently afford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get rapid economic growth and, over time, we find ways to do this in different ways with many different methodologies, then it may be workable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gore said the only way to achieve a workable NHI in South Africa is to keep the private sector in place.<\/p>\n

Discovery said the government has to work with the private sector if it wants universal healthcare in South Africa, and thus, it must change Section 33 of the NHI Bill.<\/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. South Africa\u2019s largest medical aid provider, Discovery, has warned against implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill in its current form. However, it still supports universal healthcare. Discovery used its presentation of the company\u2019s interim results to outline its argument against implementing the NHI Bill as promulgated by the government. The NHI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-63111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\n1,000% payroll tax increase needed to fund NHI - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Africa\u2019s largest medical aid provider, Discovery, has warned against implementing the National Health Insurance (N ...\" \/>\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\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1,000% payroll tax increase needed to fund NHI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa\u2019s largest medical aid provider, Discovery, has warned against implementing the National Health Insurance (N ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\" \/>\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=\"2024-03-21T13:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-21T14:01:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1711016844.421136.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\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\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"1,000% payroll tax increase needed to fund NHI\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-21T13:22:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-21T14:01:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1711016844.421136.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/1000-payroll-tax-increase-needed-to-fund-nhi\",\"name\":\"1,000% payroll tax increase needed to fund NHI - 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