Cosatu backs NHI but expert says state workers’ benefits will be majorly cut
GEMS members who earn as much as R3‚000 a month in medical scheme subsidies could lose this if government gets its way, healthcare analyst Johann Serfontein says
Trade union federation Cosatu is pushing for the state’s National Health Insurance (NHI) plan to be implemented‚ but not every union is happy about workers losing medical scheme subsidies of between R1‚000 and R3,000 a month.There are about 8.8-million people on medical schemes in SA.TimesLIVE calculated that there were at least 2.2-million beneficiaries on government medical schemes‚ including 1.7-million on the Government Employee Medical Scheme (Gems), about 500‚000 on Polmed and just more than 5‚000 on smaller schemes such as the SABC and parliamentary schemes.GEMS members who earn as much as R3‚000 a month in medical scheme subsidies could lose this if the government gets its way. This is unlikely to be allowed by workers‚ says healthcare analyst Johann Serfontein."Cosatu has been a major supporter of the NHI policy and has recently called for the dismissal of the health minister for the delays in the implementation of the single-payer system‚" Serfontein said."The average Cosa...
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