The national health insurance (nhi) and women: making the case for the socialisation of accessing health services a policy perspective

Abstract

The National Health Insurance (NHI) bill [B 11 - 2019], which was approved for adoption by the National Assembly (NA) of South Africa’s parliament on June 12, 2023, is the subject of this study, which offers a policy viewpoint. In doing so, the policy perspective attempts to analyse the degree to which the current NHI bill recognizes access to health services for women who are refugees and asylum seekers in particular. This study pays special attention to women who are asylum seekers and refugees because they are adversely affected by poor health outcomes around the world. Women asylum seekers and refugees are one of many variables in the health system in South Africa. The NHI bill and women asylum seekers and refugees are both variables of the same health system and therefore they are interconnected and linked. The linkages and interconnectedness of these variables are non-linear. Nonetheless, given the type of care that is contemplated in the NHI bill, the question that this policy perspective answers are: to what extent does the NHI bill in its current iteration recognize access to health services for women asylum seekers and refugees? And whether the type of care offered in the legislation satisfies constitutional muster.