Solidarity announces comprehensive steps to stop NHI

26 November 2019

Solidarity today announced its comprehensive steps against the National Health Insurance (NHI) during a media conference. The conference was presented in collaboration with Prof. Jannie Rossouw and Prof. Alex van den Heever, appointed by Solidarity to compile independent expert reports on the impact of the NHI on the country.

Morné Malan, Strategic Specialist at Solidarity explained, “Solidarity has investigated and studies the NHI for the past three years, including the far-reaching and devastating consequences that will accompany it. As part of Solidarity’s campaign against the NHI, we approached leading experts in the field of economic and policy analysis to compile reports on the impact of NHI.”

Solidarity has announced that these expert reports, presented at the conference, will serve as input for their comments to Parliament. “The reports compiled by Prof. Jannie Rossouw and Prof. Alex van den Heever are the most informative and thorough analyses of the NHI to date. This independent research, together with Solidarity’s own prolonged research, means that of all the organisations, we are in the best position to stop the NHI,” said Malan.

“The conference today illustrated three things: Firstly, Prof. Rossouw showed us that there is no economic or fiscal capacity to fund such an undertaking. Our own research showed that even if the NHI had been economically feasible, it still would not be acceptable to the healthcare industry at large. And finally, Prof. van den Heever left no doubt in our minds that regardless of the state of the economy or the opinion of professionals, the NHI would still be disastrous simply based on the structures, systems and governance the bill proposes. All three of these indicators are crucial and non-negotiable factors for success for the NHI. Absolutely none of these currently count in favour of the NHI proposal,” Malan added.

Prof. van den Heever has shown that there is no logical connection between the goals of the NHI and the bill itself. In fact, he further revealed that the government has virtually no reports or research on which such a connection could be built

Prof. Rossouw pointed out that the only available figures for the NHI are not only almost a decade old, but also unreliable. His report shows that a fiscal cliff would be unavoidable if the NHI plans were pursued as stubbornly and obstinately by government.

Malan concluded with the following disclosure regarding their comments: “However, Solidarity’s comments will not only tackle the NHI on paper. We are ready to tackle it in public hearing and in parliament. That is why our comments are already in the format of court papers. If necessary, we are ready to launch our court action immediately, the moment the NHI becomes law – and we will fight the NHI to the highest court! The moment President Ramaphosa signs the law, we are ready to sign our court documents.”

Issued by Morné Malan, Senior Researcher: Solidarity Research Institute (SNI), 26 November 2019