TimesLIVE reports that the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says South Africans should be “deeply” alarmed by the approval of the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the organisation has vowed to oppose its implementation with “all the resources at its disposal”.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly approved the bill that will pave the way for the introduction of universal health insurance. It now needs to go to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), and if passed there, it will be referred to President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign into law. Trade union Solidarity reacted that it was gearing up for a court challenge to the bill. The IRR expressed concern at the approval of the bill “without knowing how much it will cost”. The organisation warned: “The tax increases required to generate at least R470bn a year (and more likely R700bn a year by 2026) will be high.” It added that SA already carried one of the highest tax burdens in the world, with a very small tax base, and public debt remained high. The IRR questioned whether money collected for the scheme would actually be reserved for that purpose and not general government spending, especially given government’s well-documented poor track record when it came to spending public money. It said implementing the bill “will result in the exodus of many health professionals because they believe the NHI will ‘destabilise’ healthcare rather than improve it”.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khanyisile Ngcobo at BusinessLive

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