Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, has strongly rejected claims made by City Press regarding a potential compromise on the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI). The report, which was also picked up by Rapport, suggested that during its first Cabinet Lekgotla of 2025, the African National Congress (ANC) was planning to propose that all employees be required to join a medical aid scheme in an effort to reduce health insurance costs and alleviate pressure on the public health system.
However, Motsoaledi and his department quickly dismissed the report, with department spokesperson Foster Mohale issuing a statement to set the record straight. “The Minister and the Department of Health want to place on record that there is no such plan that will be proposed to the Cabinet Lekgotla,” Mohale emphasized. “These allegations are both unfounded and ridiculous. There is no such plan from either the ANC nor from the government. Any insinuation to that effect is purely the imagination of either the author of the article or his unknown sources.”
Motsoaledi expressed frustration with the misleading headline, which suggested that the ANC intended to force medical schemes to lower their prices. He pointed out that the private healthcare sector has been facing unsustainable cost increases, with medical aids raising their subscriptions by as much as 10% and even GEMS increasing by up to 13%. The Minister argued that reducing medical scheme prices by force would not solve the root issue of escalating costs. “Even people with a rudimentary knowledge of private healthcare will know that forcing medical aids to be cheaper is not a solution to this problem,” Motsoaledi stated. “In fact, it would be dumb for anyone to suggest that.”
The Minister further criticized the ongoing disinformation surrounding the NHI, lamenting that such reports were only serving to confuse the public and undermine the policy’s intentions. “The recent reporting on NHI represents nothing but an onslaught by some sections of the media, clearly aimed at discrediting NHI in the eyes of the public,” he added.
While Motsoaledi and the Department of Health are committed to moving forward with the NHI policy, they continue to face pushback from various quarters, including political parties and some sectors of the media. However, the Minister remains resolute in his stance, calling for a more honest and informed debate on the future of South Africa’s healthcare system.
