Until such time as a National Health Insurance (NHI) is fully implemented, millions of workers are currently on medical aid – the cost of which is becoming increasingly unaffordable. In the public and local government sectors alone approximately 1 million
The main reason for this is that the cost of private healthcare is completely unregulated on the supply side – driving up costs on medical aid premiums. Private healthcare providers can pretty much decide on what to charge leaving patients at the mercy of what is billed and responsible for the balance of what medical aids pay.
Many workers die of preventable illness as a result of not being able to afford medical aid and care that is not accessible from the State. Should this situation prevail it would leave a devastating legacy for the implementation of NHI. NHI is viewed as a single purchaser – if the current laws on health cost prevail it would be very difficult to regulate the price of healthcare services in a future dispensation and we would again be forced to sit out lengthy court battles and settle for compromises on the cost and delivery of health services. The playing therefore MUST BE LEVELLED NOW!!!
SAMWU, together with its medical aid scheme, SAMWUMED will be joining the COSATU mass action based on the following issues: