Cape Town — Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana says the funding model for the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has not yet been determined but will be discussed once it is signed into law.
The bill was passed in 2023 with president Ramaphosa jokingly saying he just needed a pen to sign the papers during his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Answering questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Godongwana would not say how much the implementation would cost or how it would be funded, EWN reported.
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Dion George asked whether taxes would be used to fund the NHI, and Godongwana said no tax announcements would be made outside of the annual budget speech.
When asked by the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) Narend Singh whether rolling out the NHi was a wise move considering the poor state of many public health facilities, Godongwana said it would not be a deterent.
Finance Minister Godongwana’s budget avoided significant funding for National Health Insurance, despite the government’s commitment to it. Michael Settas, Chair of the FMF Health Policy Unit, argues that the real issue is not a lack of resources but rather governance failures,… pic.twitter.com/hO7b3rFJFC
— Free Market Foundation (@FMFSouthAfrica) March 20, 2024
“Not all public health facilities are incompetent and inefficient. There are services where our people are satisfied with the quality of service they are getting. Where necessary, partner with the private sector.” he said.
Godongwana refused to divulge how much the NHI will cost once they start implementing it. Godongwana said during his Budget speech in February the Bill had not yet been signed into law. He said the department will begin discussing funds with the Department of Health once Ramaphosa signed the bill into law, IOL reported.
He explained the budget for the Department of Health has three components. Salaries of worker (R11.6 billion), upgrading infrastructures (undisclosed amount), and NHI pilot projects (R1.4 billion). There was no figure on the table from government, but the NHI would be implemented in various phases.
““The last point, I have said in the White Paper there are different scenarios that have been proposed for financing healthcare. Once the bill has been assented to by the president we will then work with the department of health on those scenarios and rollout the NHI,” said Godongwana.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
