South Africa’s National Health Insurance Act is one of the most ambitious legislative reforms since democracy’s advent. Its goal, universal health coverage, is widely supported. But ambition alone does not make legislation constitutional, and the upcoming NHI ConCourt Challenge will test this. The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) will appear before the Constitutional Court from 5 to 7 May. Its…
Tag: health policy
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Digital Health Transformation: A New Era of Care
South Africa’s health system is shifting fast. Clinical demand is rising. Patient expectations are changing. Technology is now good enough to remove distance, time and cost from many first points of care. Digitisation is no longer a plan. It is already reshaping care delivery. The real question is governance. Leaders must decide whether to roll out digital health deliberately, fairly,…
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Rising Medical Aid Premiums Ignite Unions Over Healthcare Costs
South Africa’s two major union federations, Cosatu and Fedusa, have escalated their warning that the country’s healthcare funding model is pricing workers out of cover. They argue that the current approach is “unsustainable, too expensive and failing workers”. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has acknowledged the scale of the problem. He agrees that the model is inappropriate and that medical aid…
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Healthcare Worker Migration Crisis: Beyond The Brain Drain
Africa faces a profound challenge in retaining the healthcare professionals required to sustain its population. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts a global shortfall of 11 million health workers by 2030. Alarmingly, Africa is expected to bear the brunt of this, with a predicted shortage of 5 to 6 million workers. This shortfall is not merely a number. It is…
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National Health Insurance: Minister Meets Medical Association
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has begun fresh engagement with one of his fiercest critics on the National Health Insurance (NHI). He met with the South African Medical Association (Sama) recently to discuss what he called “things we have in common”, despite Sama being among the organisations challenging the National Health Insurance Act in court. The NHI aims to establish a…
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Healthcare Funding Hiatus Forces A Harder NHI Conversation
South Africa’s healthcare debate is changing. With the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act stuck in legal processes and no clear healthcare funding pathway emerging from the 2026 Budget, the focus is moving from big promises to a tougher, present-day question: how do we fund care now, and what trade-offs will the system accept? That shift puts medical schemes back at…
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Obesity as a Chronic Disease: SA Pushes for Treatment Access
South Africa’s healthcare sector is stepping up calls to treat obesity as a chronic disease rather than a cosmetic concern. Clinicians and industry leaders say the shift is urgent. Obesity is rising fast. It also drives long-term costs across the health system. Globally, more than 1 billion people live with obesity. That figure is forecast to reach 1.91 billion by…
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The Depression Treatment Gap affects Millions in South Africa
New modelling suggests South Africa’s depression burden remains large, even as prevalence has edged down slightly over two decades. One important issue is the depression treatment gap, which still affects many living with the condition. Estimates indicate depression among people aged 15 and older fell from about 5.1% in 2002 to 4.5% in 2024. That still translates to more than…
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Medical Aid Forensic Audits: UP Study Flags Physiotherapist Harm
Physiotherapists say medical aid forensic audits are leaving them “fearful, stigmatised and traumatised”, according to new research from the University of Pretoria (UP). The study suggests that processes meant to protect patients’ money may be causing serious harm to practitioners and destabilising private practices. Lesley Meyer, an extraordinary lecturer in UP’s department of physiotherapy, led a study recently published in…
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FDA Biosimilar Development Guidance Targets Treatment Costs
\n\nBiologic medicines are made from living cells and are among the most expensive therapies available. While they account for only 5% of all prescriptions, they are responsible for a staggering 51% of total drug spending in the United States. To address this imbalance, the FDA is prioritising the expansion of the biosimilar market.\n\n\n\nThe new FDA biosimilar development guidance focuses on…
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NHI Preparations Continue Despite Legal Pause
\n\nThe NHI remains one of the most debated policy projects in South Africa. It currently faces more than twelve separate legal challenges. Recent court developments have focused on the legality of the process rather than the NHI model itself.\n\n\n\nNHI Preparations are Ongoing Despite Agreement on Act\n\n\n\nLast week, Minister Motsoaledi and President Cyril Ramaphosa reached an agreement regarding the Act. They…
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Local Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Health Security
The Department of Health finds itself at the centre of a heated national debate. The controversy surrounds the recent R15.5bn AIDS drug tender. It has reignited a long-standing conflict between fiscal austerity and industrial growth. Should the state prioritise the lowest possible price, or should it pay a premium for local pharmaceutical manufacturing? The Tension Between Budget Cuts and Industrial…