NCOP
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 649
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 25 November 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 39)
Mr M J R de Villiers (DA-WC) to ask the Minister of Health:
Whether his department has established a framework to deal with the
financing of emergency care in order to ensure that (a) patients are not
left with catastrophic out-of-pocket liabilities and (b) health care
providers, particularly hospitals are paid; if not, (i) why not, (ii) when
will such a framework be finalised, (iii) how are service providers
currently paid and (iv) what is the backlog in the payment of emergency
care; if so, what are the relevant details?
CW798E
REPLY:
Emergency medical services are provided by the public healthcare system.
These services are funded through the equitable share allocation to
provinces. In the private sector patients usually have private medical
insurance which covers the cost of emergency medical services. This is the
funding framework currently. When the National Health Insurance is fully
implemented, emergency medical services will be funded through a single
fund for all citizens. The National Health Insurance will provide
protection against out of pocket payments.
END.