DA's Steenhuisen: Private healthcare schemes must remain separate from govt scheme
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says he believes there are ways for government to implement a national health insurance (NHI) without decimating private healthcare schemes.
DA leader John Steenhuisen addressed a media briefing on 28 January 2025. Picture: @Our_DA/X
CAPE TOWN - Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says he believes there are ways for government to implement a national health insurance (NHI) without decimating private healthcare schemes.
The act's implementation has been a sticking point between the two largest parties within the Government of National Unity (GNU).
But Steenhuisen said there had been recent undertakings that his party's alternative proposals would be considered in the medium-term development plan.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is again expected to touch on government's plans for universal health insurance when he delivers the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) under a Government of National Unity on Thursday night.
The DA said it had proposals that can improve government’s goal of achieving universal healthcare.
Steenhuisen said he doesn't believe the targets currently in the medium-term development plan are realistic.
"I want to be clear. We are insisting that private medical schemes and aids, must remain as they are, separate from the government scheme."
He said that the party was looking forward to working with a ministerial advisory committee which would be set up to consider alternatives to the NHI in its current form.
"As you build those building blocks, don't destroy the private healthcare sector, rather have a public healthcare sector where there's symbiosis but also you could find in a decade’s time that you have a very competitive healthcare sector."
Just as its taken other countries years to implement universal healthcare, Steenhuisen said he believed that fiscal constraints would also force government to adopt a phased approach to its implementation.