“Keep your medical scheme for now,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla has urged those with medical aid coverage.
Phaahla made this call for citizens not to cancel their membership, as the rollout of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system would take years before it would be fully operational.
On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa officially signed into law the NHI Bill at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The legislation cleared the way for universal healthcare coverage, with Ramaphosa saying this was to ensure that all citizens receive equal access to healthcare benefits.
The objective of the NHI Bill is to provide universal access to quality healthcare for all South Africans of all races, rich or poor, and legal long-term residents, free of charge.
Phaahla said this was a process and citizens would be informed when their medical aid was no longer relevant.
“Don’t abandon your medical scheme as yet, everything will be transparent the day when it reaches certain reduced coverage. The Ministry will announce when everything, all the basic services are covered, hopefully by 2028 and beyond.
“Please don’t throw away your medical scheme and don’t stop your monthly stop orders,” he said.
Phaahla was responding to citizens with medical aid who said they would cancel their memberships and enjoy the benefits of the NHI.
Despite the free-of-charge healthcare services, Phaahla explained that some of the services will not be offered or covered by the NHI.
As the minister mentioned, there was still a lack of enough access to dentistry as well as general practitioners independently operating from their institutions.
He fielded questions from the press about how the new system would work.
Some of the questions that Phaahla answered were about memes circulating on social media portraying citizens rocking up at private healthcare institutions without medical aid and demanding medical treatment.
The minister explained how the NHI would be rolled out over the years, adding that it would be implemented in two phases.
Phaahla said citizens would be informed about the system as it unfolds.
Meanwhile, he said the signing of the bill was not an electioneering campaign, but a move to ensure that citizens received proper healthcare services.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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