Hon Speaker, the ANC welcomes the Cabinet decision to release the National Health Insurance Green Paper for public discussion and also commends the leadership of Minister Motsoaledi and his team for the manner in which government has driven the process of developing the NHI policy.
The ANC is of the view that the NHI Green Paper presents South Africans with the historic moment to deliberate on the need to fundamentally change the way we fund and provide health care in both the public and the private sector in order to make sure that quality health care is affordable to everyone, as well as to develop measures needed to overcome the huge inequalities that characterise our fragmented and inefficient two-tier health care system.
The NHI Green Paper ushers in the building of a single and integrated health care system that is more strongly founded on principles of primary health care, the right to health care, social solidarity and universal coverage and a nonprofit-making and publicly administered national insurance fund that all of us can be proud of.
Thus, the ANC encourages all our people and various organisations, workers, professionals, students, youth, women and business to actively take part in this important national discussion. [Applause.]