South Africa as a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is committed to attaining universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. The country is set to implement a national health insurance (NHI) to drive the UHC agenda forward. Currently, the main challenge that the country faces in ensuring health for all, is that it is plagued by inequality at various levels, and the NHI will attempt to provide more equitable access to health. In this research, the authors shed light on urban people’s perception of the NHI for South Africa. Results showed that the majority (77.5%) of urban residents were in favour of the NHI . Furthermore, township (aOR = 1.36, 95% CI [1.10–1.69], p = 0.005) and informal settlement (aOR = 1.55, 95% CI [1.09–2.20], p = 0.016) residents were significantly more likely to be in favour of NHI than those residing in inner cities. In general, the study findings show that people have a favourable perception of the NHIS which could contribute to successful policy implementation.
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