South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a contentious health-insurance measure into law, just weeks before his party confronts the most difficult election since it took power three decades ago.
The act seeks to improve a broken system and make access to treatment more equitable, while prohibiting the private sector from insuring therapy covered by the National Health Insurance plan.
Opposition parties and industry lobby groups claim the proposal is unlawful and want to challenge it in court.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is under pressure to win over voters ahead of elections on May 29.
The government intends to utilize the NHI to overhaul a system in which approximately 16% of the population is served by a multibillion-rand private business, with the remainder dependent on overworked public facilities.
During the campaign, Ramaphosa promised to utilize the legislation to eradicate “health-care apartheid.”
Underinvestment, corruption and neglect by the state of public-health facilities has meant that many don’t meet the required service delivery standards.
In its most recent report, covering 781 primary health facilities, the Office of Health Standards Compliance found that only 65% of them were up to scratch.
The signing of the bill has irked the business community for not taking into account their recommendations on NHI, even as Ramaphosa has enlisted the private sector to help fix the nation’s ailing infrastructure, address energy constraints and help combat crime.
Shares in Discovery Ltd., the nation’s biggest health-insurance provider, and peers including Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Ltd. and Sanlam Ltd. sank on Tuesday after Ramaphosa announced that he would sign the bill. Discovery Chief Executive Officer Adrian Gore said the NHI legislation enacted by Ramaphosa is unworkable.
Rampaphosa has had since December to consider whether to assent to the NHI Bill or request that lawmakers amend it on the basis of any legal or technical flaws. He criticised opposition to the legislation at a meeting of business leaders outside Pretoria on Tuesday.
