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…
Tag: medical aids
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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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Value-Based Healthcare: A New Approach to Care
South Africa’s medical aid market is under fresh scrutiny for a pattern that clinicians and members know too well. This has prompted renewed discussion about value-based healthcare and its potential to improve patient outcomes and system sustainability. Schemes routinely fund high-cost, late-stage interventions. Yet they often resist paying for prevention and side-effect management that could avoid hospital admissions later. This…
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Medical Aid Tax Credit Cut Could Reshape SA’s Private Healthcare
South Africa’s healthcare funding model may be nearing a defining break point. The proposed withdrawal of medical aid tax credits, starting with high-income earners in 2026 and extending to all taxpayers by 2027, is framed as a revenue-raising measure to support the National Health Insurance (NHI). But it is also a structural shift in how healthcare is financed. The change…
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GNU faces major showdown over National Health Insurance
The GNU (Government of National Unity) has been hit by its first significant cabinet clash, with ANC and DA ministers at odds over proposed spending plans. The most contentious issue at the centre of the debate is the National Health Insurance (NHI), a plan to reshape South Africa’s healthcare system. Insiders reported that tempers flared during an extended cabinet meeting…