New fund is next phase in establishing NHI

THE GOVERNMENT is moving towards the next phase of the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI).

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan confirmed during his Budget speech yesterday that an NHI Fund would be established in the next phase of the NHI’s implementation.

Gordhan said the initial focus of the NHI Fund would be to improve access to a common set of maternal health and antenatal services and family planning services; expand the integrated school health programmes, including the provision of spectacles and hearing aids; and improve services for people with disabilities, the elderly and the mentally ill, including the provision of wheelchairs and other assistive devices.

He added that the service package financed by the NHI Fund would be expanded progressively.

“In setting up the fund, we will look at various funding options, including possible adjustments to the tax credit on medical scheme contributions. Further details will be provided in the Adjustments Budget in October this year and in the course of the legislative process,” he said.

Gordhan said the government was committed to achieving universal health coverage in line with the vision of the National Development Plan.

He said 11 NHI pilot projects had yielded valuable insights on

which the government was now able to build. These included the design of contracts with general practitioners; more effective chronic medicine dispensing; strengthening district health services through clinical specialist teams, ward-based outreach teams and school health services; and supportive information systems.

Gordhan said 160 submissions had been received from the public related to NHI, and National Treasury and the Department of Health were working together to revise and finalise the NHI White Paper and longer-term financing arrangements.

He said there would be consultations with stakeholders over the period ahead on the reform of the medical scheme environment, including the consolidation of public-sector funds.

It was proposed in the Budget that the medical tax credit be increased for the first two beneficiaries to R303 a month from R286 and for the remaining beneficiaries to R204 a month from R192 to counter the effect of inflation.

However, the Budget Review said future adjustments would be balanced with the funding requirements of NHI.