The cons of NHI, based on interviews with health professionals is enlisted as follows:
- Your constitutional rights invaded: Medical aid is a monetary contribution made by working people, using their after-tax savings. Disallowing medical aids from continuing to provide funding for care in private health facilities is indirectly taking away people’s rights to pool their funds independently to take care of their health in world-class private facilities in South Africa.
- NHI South Africa contradicts itself: in some instances it mentions that you will have a choice in joining, but mostly it sends the message that you will not, in the manner of a socialistic state.
- Diverting your money: Working people already contribute to an “NHI”. A portion of every tax payer’s tax contribution already goes towards funding the dysfunctional state health service. The government aims to boost the funding by increasing the tax burden on working people, and diverting the money to NHI that you would have paid to a medical aid.
- Crime: Historically, most government-controlled services failed terribly, were managed by incompetent individuals who are prone to corruption and looting.
- No fairness: If the government prevents people from purchasing medical aid for private health care, then will the same be applied to other essential services? For example, will people be prevented from purchasing private security for their homes, and instead have to pay an additional tax to save the dysfunctional policing system? Will people be prevented from purchasing their own vehicles, and be taxed to improve the poor public transport services? Will people be prevented from sending their children to private schools, and be taxed to improve the dysfunctional public school system? Most countries that went down this road in the past have failed.
- Brain drain of health professionals: NHI will probably lead to highly skilled and qualified doctors and other health professionals leaving the country, for various reasons, but mostly due to the greater restriction on their ability to earn a higher income and limiting their freedom of choice.
- Unavoidable state health service: People join medical aids so that they can avoid the dysfunctional state health service. NHI South Africa protocols will probably require people to first consult a nurse in a state clinic before being referred to a general practitioner doctor or specialist doctor, and there is no guarantee that the doctor will be working at a private hospital.
What can I do right now?
- If you live in an area where the state health service works well, then consider yourself privileged and be grateful, because you are a minority.
- If you do have medical aid, hang on to it. Medical aids are not expected to be outlawed anytime soon. It is still a reliable way to avoid the dysfunctional state health service.
- If you do not have a medical aid because it is way too expensive, then seriously consider the alternate solution. There are new and innovative products that allow you to pay a very small monthly fee, and receive a very generous package of health services. These services include the use of private doctors, medication, blood tests, x-rays, hospital admissions, and the list goes on.
Affordable Alternatives to Medical Aid
Did you know: NHI stands for National Health Insurance, but it really is not Health Insurance?
NHI South Africa proposes to be a National Health “System”, it does not even propose to be a medical aid substitute. Insurance products have limitations placed on the benefits. Medical aids in South Africa offer unlimited private hospital cover for trauma and emergency cases, this is the beauty of South African medical aids. It’s a shame that their existence is being threatened by NHI.
Health Insurance is a different subject matter altogether in South Africa. Firstly, they are regulated by the Long Term Insurance Act and is not a medical aid as per the Medical Schemes Act. However, they can be constructed to look and feel like a private medical aid but at a fraction of the cost. We are talking here about a cost starting from R171 per month for unlimited private GP visits and unlimited medication per member. The best part of Health Insurance is that they will not be impacted by NHI. Better still, there are no waiting periods, no exclusions, no salary limitations and chronic disease is covered too. You can enjoy more than 80% of medical aid benefits and less than 20% of the cost.
The best Health Insurance plans can only be accessed as a company benefit: in other words, it needs to be provided by your employer. Your employer then has the choice of subsidizing the full amount or not. Individuals can not directly sign up for the best Health Insurance products. CEOs and HR managers take note: as a company provided benefit, we have seen Health Insurance improve staff productivity by more than 70%.
Some sketchy providers do allow you to sign up directly for Health Insurance, but these are the ones sold by call centers and do not have a strong and reputable brand behind them.