The Constitution does not and should not prevent the democratically elected government from passing laws merely because an economically powerful minority opposes it.

It is inevitable that the constitutionality of aspects of the National Health Insurance Act will be challenged in court and that the Constitutional Court will have to consider these challenges. We do not yet know on exactly what grounds the constitutionality of the Act will be challenged, and it is thus currently not possible to say definitively whether any of the legal challenges will succeed.

I am, however, prepared to put my head on a block and say that the Constitutional Court will decline any invitation by opponents of the Act to torpedo the implementation of the entire Act, not least because it is not the role of the court to make decisions on whether a specific policy choice of the government is good or bad, or whether there were better ways for the government to achieve its legitimate policy objectives.

And let there be no mistake, the objectives of the NHI policy cannot be faulted.

The Act provides for the establishment of a National Health Insurance Fund which will pay for a list of prescribed medical services (which will be expanded over time) that will be provided to registered users of the fund by registered healthcare professionals in the...