NHI: Ramaphosa’s last revenge on voters
12 February 2024
The DA takes note of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ominous promise at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he “is looking for his pen” to sign the destructive National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.
While the DA supports the principle of universal health care, as well as universal access to health care, we will never support the NHI Bill, which is fundamentally flawed and will further erode the public health system – already on its last legs – while also collapsing the private health sector.
The NHI Bill has always been nothing more than an ANC electioneering tool – one the governing party has never been able to figure out on paper, never mind practically implementing it without causing untold suffering to all South Africans unable to commandeer flights at the tax payers’ expense to the country of their choosing for medical treatment.
Any reform will be futile if government does not address failures in governance. In fact, it is these very failures that have led to declining access to quality healthcare in South Africa.