DA says it will vote to block national budget if it includes funding for NHI

JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will vote to block the national budget if it includes funding for the National Health Insurance (NHI). 

Despite NHI being an official government policy, the DA said it is opposed to it and will not support it, in its current format. 

The DA along with other parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) is set to on Wednesday meet for this year’s first cabinet lekgotla in Pretoria.

Among other things, the two-DA lekgotla is expected to finalise details on the annual budget which will be tabled by the Finance Minister before Parliament in February. 

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the implementation of NHI represents a red line for the DA’s continued participation in the GNU.

 “Well if you include NHI and you abolish medical aid and have it transferred to a fund, there is no way we would be able to support a budget like that because it’s not a real budget. The billions of rands that NHI is expected to cost, will blow out the budget massively. So, in the medium-term development plan, I think what the focus should be on is how we focus on fixing primary healthcare and public healthcare facilities.”