NHI – What South Africans need to know

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Let’s Clarify a few things about the recently signed NHI Act:

• Even though the Act was signed into law by the president, all members of medical schemes continue to get the cover and medical services as before the NHI Act was signed.
• Section 33 of the NHI Act states that once the NHI Act is ‘fully implemented’, medical schemes will only be allowed to provide ‘complementary cover to services not reimbursable by the NHI’. To date, however, there has been no clarification or estimation as to when the act will in fact be fully implemented and the outline of services covered by NHI has not been established yet. Until such time as these factors are resolved, medial aid schemes will continue to exist and contribute to the healthcare system.
• This means that for the foreseeable future, your membership to any private medical aid scheme will not be affected and can continue as normal.
• NHI is aimed at achieving universal healthcare for all South Africans, but there are varying opinions as to whether NHI is the best route to achieve this. The recently signed Act is also not clear as to how NHI will be funded, save to say that it will be funded through taxes. It is therefore expected that the implementation of the NHI Act will only be achieved over a long period of time.

CEO SAYS

By now you have probably heard that on 15 May 2024, president Cyril Ramaphosa officially sighed the NHI Bill into law. Although we have moved one step closer to NHI becoming a reality, we are still very far away from the system being practically implemented in South Africa.

Be that as it may, it has definitely caused a manor of unrest, confusion and a lot of unanswered questions amongst medical aid scheme members about how this affects their current cover and what this means for the future of the private medical aid industry.

In summary, we can assure all members that despite the legislation being signed into law, all will remain as is for the foreseeable future and there are no changes that will directly affect any members at this point in time. We have, however, entered an everchanging environment and Medi Call remains dedicated to keeping all members up to date with the latest developments and making sure that members feel safe, secure and informed every step of the way.

Call us on 083 458 5403 or send an email to [email protected] to appoint us as your independent scheme manager and experience the difference of personalized member care with Medi Call.