While the agreement between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to preserve medial aid funds under the National Health insurance (NHI) is a breakthrough, lobby group Solidarity says this is “not good enough”.

The Act was spearheaded by the ANC and signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa less than two weeks before the 2024 elections.

The Act was signed amid significant criticism from political parties and civil society organisations, with Solidarity saying, at the time, that the NHI Act was “impracticable, unnecessary and totally unaffordable”, and it threatened to fight the Act in court.

The new agreement reached between the ANC and DA will scrap a provision in the Act that would have seen private medical aids collapse under the NHI.

But Solidarity says while this is a step in the right direction, it believes that members of medical aid funds will still have the burden of a mandatory financial contribution to the NHI.

“Although the talks between the ANC and the DA are a step in the right direction, it is evident that the proposed changes and the compromise the two parties are seeking would not solve the core problems of the NHI. Members of medical aid funds will still have to pay a compulsory contribution for the NHI, regardless of whether they are already paying for a private medical aid fund. Solidarity rather encourages political parties to support practical, sustainable solutions such as Solidarity’s Health Funding Reform Bill,” the group said.

It argued that cash-strapped South Africans would have an additional financial burden and that South Africa could not bear the costs associated with implementing the NHI.

“Even though this compromise on medical aid funds has been reached, the NHI would still oblige doctors to treat patients according to the NHI’s set cost structures,” Solidarity said, as it pushed its Health Funding Reform Bill as a financially viable alternative.