Maroela Media reports that Solidarity views the ANC’s willingness to hold talks with the DA on the National Health Insurance (NHI) as a step in the right direction, but says that alone is not good enough.

According to the trade union, this supposed concession between the parties does not address the underlying core problems of the NHI. “The recent compromise between the ANC and the DA on the proposed preservation of medical aid funds indicates some progress, but it remains insufficient to make a real difference to the NHI. Although this proposed compromise provides for the continued existence of private medical aid funds under the NHI, it does not mean that members of medical aid funds will escape the mandatory financial contribution to the NHI,” Solidarity pointed out in a statement on Wednesday. According to Theuns du Buisson, economic researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, the ANC/DA compromise offers no relief for the double financial burden to be placed on members of medical aid funds. He motivated further: “Although a limited tax credit for private medical aid funds is applicable in the compromise, the obligation to pay for the NHI remains unavoidable. This would place further pressure on a population already burdened by rising living costs and economic challenges. The financial implications of the NHI remain unsustainable under the compromise between the ANC and the DA, and the country is still in a position where it cannot bear the enormous costs of the NHI.” Solidarity has rather encouraged political parties to support practical, sustainable solutions such as Solidarity’s Health Funding Reform Bill, which is already supported by the DA and the Freedom Front Plus.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard in Afrikaans at Maroela Media

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