This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
BL Premium reports that Business Leadership SA (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso warned on Monday that the government’s plan for universal health coverage as it is set out in the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill will leave people worse off and deter globally mobile professionals from working in SA.
The NHI Bill was approved by parliament’s portfolio committee on health last month and is expected to be passed by the National Assembly within the next few weeks. It paves the way for the establishment of a single NHI fund that will purchase services from public and private sector providers on behalf of citizens, and pares back the role of medical schemes to the point where they will only be allowed to offer cover for services not provided by NHI. It has been roundly criticised by the private sector, including SA’s biggest doctor organisations, private hospitals, and SA’s biggest medical scheme administrator, Discovery Health. Writing in her weekly newsletter, Mavuso said the bill would throttle the private healthcare sector. “By forcing the private sector out of the provision of all but a limited set of complementary services, private provision would effectively cease. For globally mobile businesspeople and their families, this would be another serious disincentive to work in SA,” she pointed out. Noting that the business sector had worked closely with the government to source equipment and medicines, and to rapidly expand the provision of Covid-19 vaccines at sites across the country, Mavuso said that that had been “a clear demonstration that national health outcomes are achieved faster and more efficiently when government and business work together, drawing on their respective strengths.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page