Parmed Report Draft: adoption

Ad Hoc Committee on Parliament and Provincial Medical Aid Scheme

27 November 2018
Chairperson: Ms L Maseko (ANC)Co-Chairperson: Mr M Parkies (ANC)
Share this page:

Meeting Summary

Parliamentary and Provincial Medical Aid Scheme Amendment Act, 1996 [No. 8 of 1996] - G 17069

The Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Parliament and Provincial Medical Aid Scheme adopted its draft report on Parmed. The EFF did not support the adoption of the draft report because it excluded Option 2 and that the proposed amendments to the report would be done during the 6th Parliament. Other opposition parties felt the stance of the EFF was premature and suggested there should be a show of hands for those in favour of and against the report. Fifteen were in favour of the report against two.

The Committee also agreed it would present Option 1 to the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces as a recommendation to address the unaffordability problem that this salary structure change has caused regarding Parmed membership, including consideration by Treasury of the once-off alignment to address the imbalance. It further recommended to the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces that the 6th Parliament should be tasked to further investigate the implementation of Option 2 with the aim of making Parmed voluntary and extending its membership base to include, amongst others, municipal councillors, magistrates and traditional leaders.

Meeting report

Committee Draft Report on Parmed
Ms Maseko took the Committee through the recommendations of the draft report on Parmed. She stated the Committee observed that the change of the salary structure in 2008 from cost plus benefit to total cost remuneration by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers had a negative impact on section 1 of Parmed Act’s listed Political Official Bearers because the increase in Parmed costs was more than the increase in salaries of affected Political Office Bearers.

Furthermore, it was noted the adverse impact that befell the members of the scheme was that the membership of the scheme was only open to selected office bearers, and this made it impossible for public representatives to join the scheme in order to bring down the cost and make it more viable. Due to restricted membership, the scheme could only offer a single coverage option and gave its compulsory members no control over the medical aid coverage they required in accordance to their needs, finances and age.

The Committee stated it wished to present Option 1 to the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces as a recommendation to address the unaffordability problem that this salary structure change has caused as it relates to Parmed membership, including consideration by Treasury of the once-off alignment to address the imbalance. It further recommended to the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces that the Sixth Parliament must be tasked to further investigate the implementation of Option 2 with the aim of making Parmed voluntary and extending its membership base to include, amongst others, municipal councillors, magistrates and traditional leaders.

Ms S Kalyan (DA) proposed minor grammatical changes to the report, which were accepted.

Mr E Mlambo (ANC) moved for the adoption of the report with minor amendments.

Mr H Chauke (ANC) seconded the motion.

Dr S Thembekwayo (EFF) stated the EFF was not supporting the adoption of the report because of the exclusion of Option 2 although it does not have problems with Option 1.

The report was adopted with minor amendments.

The Chairperson said the amendments to the Act would be done during the 6th Parliament.

Ms N Koni (EFF) stated the EFF does not support the adoption of the draft report seeing that the amendments would be done when the new administration comes in, and indicated it would love to see Option 2 taken to the House.

The Chairperson noted the objections of the EFF and stated there was no way the Committee could do the amendments during the current year.

Dr P Mulder (FF+) remarked the objections of the EFF were premature. He suggested there should be a show of hands for those who were in favour of or against the report.

15 were in favour of the report while 2 were against it.

Mr Mlambo (NCOP) proposed for the adoption of the report.

Ms G Oliphant (ANC, NCOP) accepted the proposition.

The report was adopted with minor amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

Present

  • We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting

Download as PDF

You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.

See detailed instructions for your browser here.

Share this page: