Medical scheme members around the country are worried about how they will access healthcare after the President signed the National Health Insurance Bill into law last week.

The Board of Healthcare Funders has advised that schemes have been calling in on the back of members already trying to cancel their membership last week. If you do belong to a medical scheme, here are the reasons you should not cancel your scheme membership:

There is no implementation date in sight. Before the NHI can be implemented, the National Health Insurance Act includes a number of complex reforms, which will mean massive restructuring in the public and private healthcare sectors. This is unlikely to be concluded anytime soon.

A funding mechanism has not been finalised. There has been widespread debate for several years about how the NHI will be funded. The most likely option might be an additional tax. Any details on tax amendments to raise resources for the NHI would be announced in a budget speech by the finance minister. However, the timing of such an amendment would be linked to the progress in setting up the NHI Fund and operationalising the NHI, which is likely to take several years if not decades.

There are several legal challenges in the works. The private healthcare industry is up in arms. The issue is not that they are against the...