The National Health Insurance model:
Since both of the above mentioned models is so widely implemented and successful in their own way, there is a third model which is “the best of both worlds”. This is called the National Health Insurance Model. In this model the private sector pays premiums into a government insurance fund which in turn uses private health insurance providers. Doctors and other staff members’ salaries are determined and paid by the government which leads to patients not having to pay for any basic medical services. The government maintain control in such a system by limiting the medical services they will provide free of charge or by making patients wait to be treated. This means that additional, non-basic medical needs will not be covered by the government, but the consumer will be responsible for the expense.
This model is implemented in Canada, as well as in Taiwan and South Korea and is also the model that South Africa would like to implement by 2025/26. For this to be made possible, South Africa’s government would need additional funds, as it is already in a deficit.
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The question would then rather be if the portion of the NHI Model of the government is affordable. South Africa is still reporting a deficit in the budget, which means there are no surplus funds and any additional expenditure needed for the NHI project would need to be raised. South Africa is currently spending 11% of its budget on health, this is about R168.4 billion (South African Revenue Services, 2016), but on average will need an additional R10.4 billion per annum (KPMG, 2013) to fund the