DA to urgently request updated Socio-Economic Impact Assessment on NHI Bill
8 April 2022
Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by Michele Clarke MP.
The DA will submit a formal request to the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Unit (SEIAU) in the Presidency that a new risk assessment for the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill be conducted.
The most recent Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) was done in 2019 – before the Covid-19 pandemic decimated State coffers and put tremendous strain on the public health care system.
In Gauteng alone, the public health care system is buckling under the pressure of dealing with patients unable to receive treatment at the burned down Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital. It hardly seems possible that quality universal health care would be feasible. The myriad of health care problems there and in the rest of the country must be fully addressed before universal health care is explored.