Healthcare reform cannot wait while costs keeps rising
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Every year, South Africans feel the impact of rising healthcare costs long before they enter a hospital or visit a doctor. It arrives in the form of higher medical scheme contributions, larger out of pocket payments, and growing uncertainty about whether quality private healthcare will remain affordable for their families in the years ahead. While the country continues to debate the future of healthcare reform through National Health Insurance (NHI), millions of South Africans are dealing with a far more immediate reality which is the rising cost of accessing care today. This is why reforms aimed at improving affordability and transparency in private healthcare cannot be delayed while broader policy processes unfold. This month marks one year since public comments closed on the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s draft Interim Block Exemption for Tariff Determination in the Healthcare Sector. The draft regulations are designed to establish a formal tariff negotiation framework between medical schemes and healthcare providers to improve pricing transparency, affordability, and sustainability within the private healthcare sector. Yet despite widespread recognition that healthcare pricing reform is urgently needed, there has been little indication of when meaningful implementation will begin. Critical reforms to improve affordability and transparency in private healthcare are not in conflict with universal health coverage or the long-term objectives of NHI. In fact, they are necessary to stabilise the health system while broader reforms continue to evolve. The need for tariff reform has been recognised for several years. In its 2019 Health Market Inquiry, the Competition Commission identified structural problems in private healthcare pricing and recommended the establishment of transparent mechanisms for collective tariff determination to improve affordability for consumers. The BHF has consistently supported these recommendations and believes regulated tar