ANC set to steam ahead on NHI Bill after short pause

The National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill will be debated for adoption by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Wednesday after it stalled at the last minute a week ago. 

The bill, which has been in the parliamentary process since 2019, was pulled from the Order Paper last week when the NCOP chair, Amos Masondo, asked for a delay to consider a letter urging him to revisit the bill. 

The letter – written by Business Unity SA (BUSA) and Business4SA (B4SA) – expressed grave doubts that the NHI in its current form could be implemented or would be good for the country. Business says SA does not have the resources to implement the NHI, which would require raising an additional R200 billion in taxes.