The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Chief Executive, Dr. Okoe Boye left for Nigeria on Tuesday, September 6th, 2022, to participate in a two-day meeting, where he touched on leveraging technology to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the new NHIA.
Dr. Okoe Boye gave an overview of the NHIS and explained that it was compulsory for all residents in Ghana to enroll onto the Scheme.
“Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to introduce the NHIS in 2003 through an Act of Parliament (ACT 650) and full implementation started in 2004. Under the NHIS amended Act 852 (2012), every Ghanaian is required to enroll onto the Scheme.”
He said the NHIS had recorded over 16 million active membership likely to hit the 80 percent threshold of UHC before the year 2030.
He posited that the government was far advanced with the digitalization agenda of delivering accessible and satisfactory health care systems.
In collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIA), he inferred that it was possible to use one card to access health care services and therefore entreated Ghanaians to merge their NHIS and Ghana cards.
According to the NHIA Boss, electronic claims management had jumped to 60 and pledged a 100 percent uptake by the end of the year 2023.
He further elaborated on the inclusion of the four main childhood cancer diseases in the NHIS Benefit Package as well as the upward adjustment of the medicine tariffs by 30 percent.
He reiterated management’s determination to help sustain licensed private health insurance companies whom he described as indispensable partners in the health sector.
He recalled how the NHIS was conceived by former President John Agyekum Kufuor who then in opposition as Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised to abolish the “Cash and Carry system” of health delivery in Ghana.
Dr. Okoe Boye embarked on the journey with the Director of Private Health Insurance Schemes (PHIS) Directorate, Mr. Hudu Issah.
NHIS @20 celebration
The NHIA and its development partners as well as beneficiaries of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) are bracing up for the NHIS 20th Anniversary scheduled for the year 2023.
Since its inception, there has been an exponential improvement in the health-seeking behavior of the population, as more people are seeking medical attention early and avoiding unnecessary deterioration in their medical conditions.
The new financial reforms including prompt payments of Claims to healthcare providers have increased the public’s confidence in the Scheme.
The Scheme’s inclusive Benefit Package covers over 95 percent of health conditions in Ghana and the Benefit Package has successfully been expanded over the years.
The NHIS is governed by the NHIA, headquartered in Accra, and has sixteen (16) administrative regional offices, 175 district offices and four (4) Claims Processing Centres (CPC).
Over time, the NHIS has grown to become a major instrument for financing health care delivery in Ghana.
As matter of fact, it is the financial mainstay of 4,600 credentialed healthcare service providers in the country accounting for more than 85% of funds that flow into healthcare facilities to cater for NHIS members.
The NHIS is the vehicle and road on which Ghana’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) drives and management is committed to the agenda.
