BusinessLive reports that according to SA’s private hospital groups, National Health Insurance (NHI), which the government is pushing as the solution to the country’s health crisis, could lead to the loss of up to 132,000 jobs.  

NHI is the government’s policy for introducing universal health coverage and aims to ensure everyone has access to healthcare that is free at the point of service.  The Hospital Association of SA (Hasa), which represents the private hospital sector, was among the industry groups that presented their views on the risks to the economy at last week’s Business Unity SA (Busa) meeting.  Hasa commissioned economics consultancy Econex to analyse the potential effect of the NHI Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment Bill, which were released for public comment last June.  It provided two scenarios to illustrate the economy-wide effect of two different policy paths.  Under scenario one, the state would not purchase any private hospital services under NHI and 99,600 jobs would be lost in the private sector and R31bn shed from SA’s GDP.  Scenario two added in the effect of price regulation, with prices capped at 23% lower than they are at present.  Under this scenario, 132,000 jobs would be lost.

• Read Tamar Kahn’s report on this story in full at BusinessLive

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