From CompliNEWS | Financial Service Intelligence Watch
Hikes on the cards to fund NHI scheme
The National Department of Health has again confirmed that tax hikes and other tax changes are on the way to fund the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme – which is still awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature. Responding to a written parliamentary Q&A, Health Minister Joe Phaahla was asked to share more details on how the government will fund the NHI through taxes and the rate of tax that will be imposed on individual taxpayers. BusinessTech reports that he repeated that clause 49 of the NHI Bill deals with the funding question and ‘possible tax amendments will be introduced through a Money Bill by the Minister of Finance as and when appropriate and earmarked for use by the Fund’. This is subject to the ‘transitional arrangements’ provided in section 57 of the Bill. The first implementation phase of the NHI runs from 2023 to 2026, when the NHI Fund will be set up and other groundwork put in place. The second phase – which would see the ‘mobilisation of resources’ and ‘the establishment and operationalisation of the (NHI) Fund as a purchaser of health care services through a system of mandatory prepayment – runs from 2026 to 2028.