Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba didn’t cut state subsidies for private medical aid members outright but your pocket may still feel the pinch.
The National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme seems to be back on track. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba announced a 49% increase over three years for a conditional grant that goes to the
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Die Valke in Noordwes ondersoek kontrakte wat die provinsiale gesondheidsdepartement met private ambulansdienste aangegaan het, terwyl sowat 60 van die departement se eie ambulanse nie gebruik word nie. Die 61 splinternuwe ambulanse wat Noordwes se gesondheidsdepartement in November en Desember sowat R20 miljoen uit die sak gejaag het, is ná byna drie maande steeds nie..
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Treasury has allocated an additional R4.2-billion to the National Health Insurance (NHI), sticking to its guns on funding it through cutting tax credits. In the budget tabled by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba on Wednesday, an additional R700-million was set aside for 2018/19, R1.4 billion for 2019/20 and R2.1 billion for 2020/21 – all to be..
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Those who oversaw the removal of mental health patients could face the full wrath of the law as could those standing by as KZN’s cancer care fails.
Gauteng health department officials could be criminally charged with culpable homicide for their roles in the Life Esidimeni scandal, says David McQuoid-Mason, a law professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
He believes former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, her former head of department, Barney Selebano, and the mental health services director, Makgoba Manamela, could be convicted of culpable homicide if prosecutors can prove their negligence caused the deaths of at least 144 patients and that these deaths were illegal. McQuoid-Mason was speaking at a lecture hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics last week.
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Die onlangse uitbreking van die dodelike listeriose in Gauteng is nie die grootste probleem wat die provinsiale gesondheidsdepartement in die gesig staar nie. Die min geld tot die einde van die finansiële jaar is vir die DA ’n bron van kommer.
Jack Bloom, die DA se woordvoerder in Gauteng, sê hoewel listeriose moeilik is om te bekamp, het die voorkoming van die siekte in werklikheid ’n minimale impak op die departement se funksionering.
Dr. Gwen Ramokgopa, Gauteng se LUR vir gesondheid, het Dinsdag by ’n voorlegging aan die provinsiale portefeuljekomitee oor gesondheid erken haar departement sukkel om die siekte te bekamp.
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‘Families should be compensated for trauma, but not for what the deceased went through’, says state advocate.
The Gauteng provincial government’s resistance to paying Constitutional damages to the families who lost their loved ones in the Life Esidimeni tragedy, may be tied to the fear of accepting greater responsibility.
This follows a 2015 Gauteng health department decision to place almost 1700 former Life Esidimeni mental health patients in the care of deadly NGOs. While 144 have since died, a further 12 remain missing.
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According to Discovery Health CEO, Dr Jonathan Broomberg, efforts to curb fraud in the healthcare system resulted in R568m recovered on behalf of client schemes in 2017, compared to R405m in 2016. Further, fraud-control activities in which health professionals and others contemplating fraud desist from committing fraud in reaction to visible policing and action by Discovery Health, prevented additional fraud to the value of approximately R3bn over the last two years, adds Broomberg.
Discovery Health has invested substantially in fighting the scourge of healthcare fraud. Efforts include the deployment of a specialised team of over 100 analysts and professional investigators as well as a proprietary forensic software system that uses sophisticated algorithms to analyse claims data and identify any unusual claim patterns. Invaluable tip-offs from whistleblowers also help to identify fraud.
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On top of the R200‚000 compensation for emotional shock‚ psychological injury and funeral expenses from the State‚ Life Esidimeni families want each claimant to receive R1.5-million for constitutional damage redress.
On Thursday‚ the Life Esidimeni arbitration convened for closing arguments in Parktown‚ Johannesburg. Though the two parties agreed on the emotional trauma claim under common law‚ in respect of the claim for constitutional damages‚ the State and Section 27 did not reach an agreement.
Section 27 Advocate Adila Hassim argued why the State should compensate the families for the violation of constitutional rights.
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Neem kennis: Foto kan sensitiewe lesers onstel.
Berdus Henrico, wat Dinsdag 6 Februarie tydens ’n plaasaanval in die Melkrivier-omgewing in Limpopo geskiet is, het teen Donderdag 12:00 steeds met twee koeëls in sy skouer en arm gesit.
Hoewel hy vir X-strale Polokwane toe gestuur is en gisternag weer in die F.H. Odendaal-hospitaal op Modimolle opgeneem is, het hy daarna nog nie verdere behandeling ontvang vir die skietwonde nie, het sy verloofde, Estelle Niewenhuys, aan Die Pos gesê.
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We entered 2017 reeling from a series of double-digit medical insurance premium hikes. It was becoming clear that schemes are in trouble; undercut by unregulated, selective insurance products and forced into tighter and tighter modes of managing care delivered.
We were facing an affordability crisis then – that, without serious systematic change, schemes will be unable to derail their progression towards shrinking memberships and eventual collapse.
Moving into 2018, scheme’s reserves are under threat, memberships are stagnant and the system continues, for the most part, to tolerate overutilisation of hospital services while failing to invest in strengthening community-level care. Alternative fee models remain tentative and marginal, neither inspiring nor supporting any structural changes in the fragmented way healthcare services are delivered. In light of this, I predict the following for the coming year:
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