(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s biggest business lobby group said it will suggest solutions to address its concerns with a recent law that will lay the groundwork for universal national health insurance after a request from the president.
Business Unity South Africa, which previously described the plan as unaffordable and unconstitutional, will “prepare a proposal detailing solutions to address its concerns,” it said in a statement Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa asked the lobby to do so “as a basis for further engagement” after he met with its leadership on Tuesday.
He signed the National Health Insurance Act into law less than two weeks before May 29 elections after years of wrangling. The legislation bans the private sector from offering cover for treatment available under the NHI, and opponents say it will neither remedy the health-care system’s shortfalls or be affordable for the state.
The country’s overburdened public facilities currently serve about 84% of the population, while the remaining 16% who can afford private insurance have access to world-class treatment. The NHI legislation provides a framework for citizens to secure universal access to health care through a centrally managed government fund that buys services from public and private providers.
The government “remains committed to engaging with all stakeholders in good faith on the process of health-care reform, and to finding workable solutions that will advance quality and affordable health care for all,” the presidency said in a statement Tuesday.
BUSA has also said the “legislation, in its current form, is unimplementable and damaging to the country’s health-care sector, to the economy more broadly and to investor confidence.”
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