- Access to good, affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege, which is why the party you plan to vote for should take it seriously.
- On Wednesday, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill was signed into law — just two weeks before election day.
- The NHI is one way to give everyone free healthcare. But it’s certainly not the only way. That’s why many political parties are opposed to it.
- But do they have a better plan? Find out.
In today’s newsletter, we unpack how some of the country’s political parties think about universal healthcare. Sign up.
Signing the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law just two weeks before South Africa heads to the voting booths was an election stunt, some say — which could end up in court.
The idea of the NHI is to give everyone the chance to see a doctor or, say, psychologist or physiotherapist for free, and to also scrap payments for stays in hospitals.
The concept is called universal access to healthcare — giving everyone access to quality healthcare regardless of how much they can pay. But there are many ways to get there; the NHI is only one way.
We analysed the election manifestos of 15 political parties running in the general election; 13 of them took universal access to healthcare seriously enough to include such plans in their manifestos.
And they should.
Universal health coverage is a 2030 sustainable development goal, and South Africa subscribes to those goals. Moreover, we’ve got a terribly unequal health system: Only about 20% of the country can afford medical aid to pay for private healthcare; the rest rely on an underfunded, frequently badly managed, public health system.
The NHI will be like a giant state-run medical aid, paid for with taxes. But almost all parties, except for the ANC, are vehemently opposed to the NHI as a way to give all South Africans free healthcare.
Political parties such as the DA have even threatened to take the government to court.
So how does the party you plan to vote for plan to get South Africa to universal health coverage?
You can use our election tool to find out what all 15 parties we analysed say.
We’ve highlighted five of them below.
Want to read more from the ANC? Click here.
Want to read what other parties say about universal health coverage? Click here.
Want to read more from the DA? Click here.
Want to read what other parties say about universal health coverage? Click here.
Want to read more from ActionSA? Click here.
Want to read what other parties say about universal health coverage? Click here.
Want to read more from RISE Mzansi? Click here.
Want to read what other parties say about universal health coverage? Click here.
Want to read more from the FF Plus? Click here.
Want to read what other parties say about universal health coverage? Click here.
