Business day 19 October 2023 - Adrian Gore says funding the additional healthcare spend required for NHI through tax increases on a small base is not sustainable.
In its annual report published on Wednesday, the Adrian Gore-led group said inputs of healthcare professionals were not given the appropriate weight and attention in the drafting of the bill. "The current version of the bill states that once NHI has been fully implemented, medical schemes may only offer complementary cover to services not reimbursable by the NHI Fund. Universal healthcare is crucial and the NHI is a remedy to achieving this. However, we are of the view that the NHI is not workable without private sector collaboration," Gore said in a letter to shareholders. Discovery said it was concerned that NHI's funding remained unclear, as input from Treasury and the supporting money bill had not been disclosed or debated. The group said it supported the proposed low-cost benefit options to be introduced into medical schemes.
Business Day 19 October 2023 - An application to appeal against a high court ruling compelling it to resume payments is rejected by the Constitutional Court. This puts a final nail in the coffin to RAF efforts to stop honouring claims from medical schemes for members who have been injured in traffic accidents. It may also influence the outcome of the RAF Amendment Bill, released for public comment in early September, which proposes that medical scheme members become ineligible for cover from the Fund.
Business day 18 October 2023 - The Limpopo health MEC says leaders should not seek treatment in another country while SA's health system languishes.
Dr Ramathuba has lambasted the tendency of African political leaders to access healthcare internationally while they leave a collapsing system they could have fixed in their own countries.
Business Day 17 October 2023 - Noncommunicable diseases require targeted interventions to ease burden on health systems
Deaths due to chronic medical conditions including cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and chronic lower respiratory diseases have increased 58.7% over 20 years, Stats SA says. Looking at data between 1997 and 2018, Stats SA said the median age of death was 65 for males and 69 for females. "Regular screening for NCDs at health facilities needs to be reinforced to ensure timely diagnosis and monitoring of patients to ensure that they are under control."
Business Day 12 October 2023 - A day after stunning the industry, regulator acknowledges schemes need to communicate with members
Last week the CMS's acting registrar, Zongezile Baloyi, sent letters to SA's five biggest open medical schemes, instructing them to retract all communication about their planned premiums and benefits for 2024 because they has not been given the green light by the regulator. In a separate development, CMS registrar Sipho Kabane told parliament that the regulator has finalised its work on low-cost benefit options and expects to present its report and recommendations to health minister Joe Paahla in two weeks time.