SA’s biggest industry body for private hospitals is pressing ahead with legal action against the ANC’s controversial National Health Insurance Act, it announced on Monday.
The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa) will be the fourth organisation to challenge the act in court. It follows cases launched by trade union Solidarity, the Board of Healthcare Funders (representing medical schemes) and the SA Private Practitioners Forum (representing healthcare professionals).
Its move comes as the government of national unity’s parties prepare for a cabinet lekgotla on Wednesday when the NHI is expected to be on the agenda.
The National Health Insurance Act sets in play the ANC’s plan for achieving universal health coverage, which it promises will ensure everyone has access to quality services that are free at the point of delivery, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
It aims to scrap the current health system, which sees those who can afford medical scheme cover accessing costly but generally high-quality services in the private sector. The majority of the population, meanwhile, depends on largely free but uneven services provided by public hospitals and clinics.
It is unclear what legal line of attack Hasa intends to take, as it has yet to file court papers. It has intensely lobbied against the NHI, which it says is unaffordable and unworkable.
It said in a statement it had decided to go ahead with its case due to the government’s lack of response to several “constructive and practical” proposals, including those put forward by Business Unity SA (Busa), and health minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s recent comments that publication of NHI regulations was imminent.
Hasa said it remained hopeful that the presidency would respond positively to the constructive proposals that had been made, and that it was open to engaging with the government in parallel to the legal process.
“We remain firmly committed to participating constructively while the legal process unfolds. As an organisation, we have always preferred to resolve matters through dialogue, and we believe that effective healthcare solutions are urgently needed and achievable through a reasonable and collaborative approach,” Hasa chair Melanie da Costa said.
Solidarity was the first organisation to try to overturn the act, signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa two weeks before the general election in May. The Board of Healthcare Funders and the SA Private Practitioners Forum followed suit soon after.
One of the most contested aspects of the act is its limitations on the future role of medical schemes.
Section 33 of the act says medical schemes will be restricted to providing “complementary cover” only for benefits not covered by NHI once the new scheme has been declared fully implemented by the minister. This is in contrast to most other national health schemes around the world, which allow patients to purchase private health insurance to supplement what the state has to offer.
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