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.