Health Insurance registers 13,840,198 people

THE National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) had registered 13,840,198 Ghanaian residents under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) by the end of November, 2009.
Officials of the NHIA, regulators of the NHIS say the figure represents about 67 per cent of the population of Ghana.
Information made available by the officials indicated that out of the 13.8 million persons who had registered as of November 2009, about 12,846,526 of them, representing 87.8 per cent had been issued with identification (ID) cards which enabled them access healthcare facilities without paying at the delivery point.
Taking into consideration the objective for the establishment of the scheme under Act 650 of 2003 by the Government of Ghana, which is to provide basic healthcare services to persons resident in the country through mutual and private health insurance schemes, that figure could be considered a positive achievement.
Funds for the scheme are from subscribers’ premiums which range from GH¢7.20p to GH¢48, as well as 2.5 per cent National Health Insurance Levy; 2. 5 per cent Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) deductions from the formal sector; funds from the Government of Ghana to be allocated by Parliament, as well as returns from investment made by the NHIA.
To fulfil its manifesto promise to the people of Ghana, the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is planning to initiate a one-time-payment policy to ensure an affordable health service for the people.
The policy, which is expected to be implemented by the end of next year, is to grant Ghanaians equal access to quality healthcare.
At a staff durbar held on December 22, 2009, the Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, said recent auditing conducted within the various district schemes had revealed that about 20 per cent of funds meant for claims and re-insurance have been wrongly used for administrative purposes.
That, according to the authority, could partly be blamed for some of the problems associated with the non-payment of claims to service providers under the NHIS; an issue which had remained a major challenge to service providers under the scheme.
He hinted the NHIA would next year put in place measures to further eliminate leaks which had previously been going on within the schemes, adding that any scheme manager who misapplied money meant for claims would be sanctioned.
The CEO announced a number of changes and transfers at the NHIA head office, as well as regional offices; a move, he explained, was meant to strengthen the various units and directorates.
On November 5, 2009, a month-long refresher course for personnel of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in information, communication technology (ICT) ended in Accra.
The programme, which was organised by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), was to provide the necessary capacity for claim managers as well as officials working within the management information system (MIS) units in the various schemes to ensure improvement on performance.
The object of the programme, according to the CEO of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester Mensah, was to conduct the personnel through new ICT modules in order to sharpen their brains for the work ahead.
Mr Mensah said some of the major challenges that had affected implementation of the NHIS since its inception in 2004 were claims management and registration of members. He, however, expressed the hope that with the training being effected, those officers should be able to effect significant changes in their areas of operation.
Being in its fifth year of implementation, the managers of the NHIS are scrutinising the operations of the scheme to determine whether some areas in the Act which established it should be reviewed.
In that direction, the NHIA has engaged the services of a consulting firm, Development and Law, to look into Act 650 of 2003.
On Wednesday, October 8, 2009 the NHIA organised a two-day seminar for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health to consider how best to review portions of the law to enable the scheme offer better services to Ghanaians.
The seminar became necessary after the consultants had identified 59 legal, as well as 108 implementation and operational challenges in the legislative instrument governing the NHIS.
The findings, according to officials of the NHIA, had necessitated the authority to strengthen its call for amendments to Act 650 of 2003 which has the objective of providing affordable and quality healthcare to all residents of Ghana.
In his presentation, Dr Raymond A. Atuguba of Law and Development Associates said after five years of implementation of the scheme under Act 650, some issues had come up which made it necessary for the law to be reviewed to ensure smooth operation.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the opening of the seminar, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Alhaji Dr Mustapha Ahmed said the review of the law had become more significant now that the government was planning to introduce one-off-time premium under the NHIS.