The South African government is currently in the process of a major health sector reform that is aimed at achieving universal access to good quality health care for all South Africans.  A National Health Insurance (NHI) has been proposed as the fundamental component of this reform process.  Medi-Clinic, in line with its commitment to quality care, supports the objective of the proposed reform.  NHI is a new concept for most South Africans, and the design of an NHI can take many forms.  Medi-Clinic Southern Africa (MCSA) actively and constructively contributes to the policy debate with a view to influence policy-making to adopt an optimal NHI design for all the citizens of South African.

In January 2009, MCSA established a Health Policy Unit (HPU).  A core function of the HPU is to conduct research in the area of health sector reform, and provide strategic input to MCSA's engagement with the reform process.  The provision of strategic input includes the dissemination of relevant information.  MCSA believes that an informed policy-making process is vital to the realisation of a suitable NHI model for South Africa.  This web-page includes links to resource documents on the NHI, including links to other websites that contain relevant information around the NHI.

We hope that you find these resource materials informative and beneficial.  For any enquiries around NHI or the Health Policy Unit, please contact:

Hein van Eck
General Manager: Health Policy
hein.vaneck@mediclinic.co.za
Telephone: 021 943 6000

Medi-Clinic is a proud member of the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA).  HASA is an industry association which represents the majority of private hospitals and independently-owned hospitals in South Africa.  To date, HASA comprises a total of 192 private hospitals representing approximately 28 500 beds and over 90% of the private hospital industry in South Africa.  HASA is a key role-player in the South African healthcare market and is the official representative of the private hospital industry.

In 2008 and 2009, the Hospital Task Group (HTG) established by HASA, compiled the Private Hospital Review (PHR).  The aim of the PHR is to address current issues in the South African healthcare market based on credible information.  The views expressed in the PHR are a unified response on behalf of the private hospital sector.  Click on PHR 2008 and PHR 2009 for more information.

In 2009, HASA commissioned Econex, an economics consultancy firm, to conduct research on various facts of the proposed NHI.  Econex has full academic independence with regards to their research methods, results and conclusions drawn.  Econex publishes their findings as a series of Research Notes.  Each Research Note focuses on a key aspect of the NHI such as financing, human resources, training etc.  See below for the complete list of Econex Research Notes published to date:
Note 1, Note 2, Note 3, Note 4, Note 5, Note 6, Note 7, Research Note 13 and Health Reform Note 1, Health Reform Note 2 and Health Reform Note 3.
Econex has made their costing model used to estimate the potential costs of the proposed NHI plan available on their website homepage for public use. Download the model to understand more about the data, assumptions and metholodogy used to calculate the results reported.

Innovative Medicines South Africa (IMSA) is the South African pharmaceutical industry association.  As a significant role player in the healthcare market, IMSA aims to be a credible source of information that is listened to in both the public and private markets and focuses on building an envrionment for sustainable access to innovative research-based healthcare.  As a result IMSA has been actively involved in the NHI discussions and have also posted NHI related research papers on its website, in order to give the public access to information regarding the NHI proposals.  Professor Heather McLeod has been engaged to assist IMSA to bring an academic perspective to this debate and results of her studies can be found in the IMSA NHI Policy Briefs.  Click on the link on the right for direct access to IMSA's NHI library.