Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr. Dacosta Aboagye has emphasized the NHIA’s strong financial standing refuting claims that the Authority is bankrupt.
He notes that the authority disburses between 180 and 250 million Ghanaian cedis monthly.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, Dr. Aboagye reassured the public that the NHIA’s funding will remain stable despite Ghana’s dealings with the International Monetary Fund and the upcoming elections.
Dr. Aboagye explained that the NHIA’s resources are safeguarded under the IMF’s social protection programme emphasizing assurances from the finance ministry for claims to be paid to the vulnerable and the need to celebrate the NHIS scheme.
He expressed no doubts of the release of the funds to the Bank of Ghana adding that “because of the assurances given to me by the Finance Minister, so am confident that funds will be released.
“We cannot put the vulnerable in distress, most the of claims are for the vulnerable and they cannot do that. Also, for me, what the NHIS go through to make sure that delivering on their mandate is really remarkable for the last twenty years and we need to celebrate the workers, the facilities and the stakeholders for their assistance.”
Dr. Dacosta shared that the NHIA database currently includes approximately 25 million active Ghanaian members, along with around 7 to 8 million inactive members.
Meanwhile, he said the recent decision to automatically enrol contributors of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SNNIT) into the NHIA scheme is expected to drive an increase in NHIA membership numbers.
He touted the government’s digitalization agenda and said Ghanaians should leverage that in renewing their out-of-date NHIA cards.
Additionally, Dr. Aboagye said the “National Non-resident Visitors Health Insurance” policy that is seeking to ensure foreign visitors are issued mandatory health insurance cards is a case of expanding the scheme.
Indicating the policy’s operationalization in the NHIA Act, 2012 (Act 852), Dr. Dacosta noted that once non-residents are given mandatory insurance, health facilities will be designated for them to access health care anytime they are in Ghana.
“That can also bring additional resources to the NHIA…it is all towards achieving the universal coverage,” he continued.
Dr. Dacosta also disclosed that a full year of non-payment of claims has resulted in a debt totalling 1.2 billion.
However, he reassured that the NHIA has begun addressing this issue by disbursing 171 million to healthcare facilities.
He said “…in our tenure, if you look at us now, last month we paid 171 million to facilities. The lower tiers, we owe them three months…But when it comes to the higher tier, we owe them about five to six months. So, we’ve paid up to November, which means that we continue to engage the Ministry of Finance for us to close the gap. So we are lagging behind in terms of the higher tier. But we are in line in terms of the lower tiers.”
Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
