NHI Affordability: Key Issues and Legal Perspectives

Original Article by Jesse Copelyn | Spotlight | 16 September 2025

Discover how NHI affordability is at the center of legal challenges against South Africa's National Health Insurance Act.

Discover how NHI affordability is at the center of legal challenges against South Africa’s National Health Insurance Act.

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Dr Thembisile Xulu is the new health Director-General, inheriting a strained department, healthcare-worker shortages and NHI litigation.

Gauteng is losing 100 nurses a month and needs R5.7bn to fill a 16,000-post gap. This shortage now flagged as a key risk to the NHI rollout.

Regulation, not demand, blocks affordable cover: medical schemes should be allowed to offer low-cost benefit options (LCBOs) now.