Health Funders Association launches legal challenge against the NHI Act
Johannesburg, 05 June 2025: The Health Funders Association (HFA) has launched a legal challenge against key aspects of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. While HFA supports the goal of universal health coverage (UHC), it believes that the NHI Act is unaffordable, unworkable and unconstitutional.
HFA welcomes Minister’s stance on protecting medical tax credits - and urges urgent action on affordable medical scheme cover
“These are teachers, nurses, police officers, civil servants, factory workers and union members - the engine of the economy,” says Thoneshan Naidoo, CEO of HFA. Removing tax credits would push nearly 884 000 people into the already overburdened public system.
The seven hidden dangers of implementing NHI
While the goal of equitable access to quality healthcare is both noble and necessary, the underlying economic and operational assumptions of the NHI model are deeply problematic.
The NHI Funding timeline: Uncertainty and the need for confirmation of a way forward
The Minister recently filed affidavits in the NHI-related litigation purporting to set out a 10-15-year timeline for the full implementation of the NHI Act. However, Section 57 of the NHI Act, 'hard wires' Phase 1 (2023–2026) and Phase 2 (2026–2028) with what the Department has referred to in litigation as 'immutable temporal markers'.
