Stakeholders call for streamlining of NHIS levy
Stakeholders at a public forum organised by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Accra have called for the NHIS levy to be deducted by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the point of payment so that it does not go into the consolidated fund before it is reimbursed to the scheme.
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That, they said, would help ensure prompt payment to service providers.
The public forum, organised by the Technical Review Committee of the NHIS, was to solicit inputs from the public to reform the scheme.
The third in a series of regional forums, the Greater Accra forum brought together service providers, clients, NHIS regional and district officers, as well as traditional rulers.
The main objective of the reform is to, among others, ensure financial sustainability, increase public confidence of the scheme, increase coverage of the poor and vulnerable groups in society, as well as ensure accountability and efficiency in the operations of the scheme.
The p
Stakeholders opinions
The participants were also of the opinion that to ensure that mistrust between service providers and their clients was eliminated, doctors should prescribe NHIS drugs on separate forms.
They suggested also that an NHIS customer service desk should be placed at all health facilities so that clients could have easy and prompt response to their concerns.
They called for an improvement in the monitoring and accountability system of the scheme to ensure that people did not over bill or swindle them.
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Need for review
The Chairman of the Review Committee, Mr Chris Atim, in a presentation made on his behalf by Mr Peter Yeboah, a member of the committee, on the need for a review of the scheme after 11 years of its operation, said the programme, although successful in the early stages of its operation, needed to be redesigned to ensure that the current challenges facing the NHIS were resolved.
He said there were challenges with the design and implementation of the scheme.
A major problem, he said, was that of financial sustainability, saying that currently there was an increase in enrolment, leading to its expenditure exceeding income.
Presently, according to him, the major source of finance for the scheme was through tax levy, which formed about 75 per cent of the scheme’s income.
He said the review of the scheme had become necessary because public confidence in the scheme had waned due to its lack of financial sustainability.
That, he said, had led to a perception within the public that the NHIS was collapsing, a situation which he says is not true.
Writer's email: rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.