ADDITIONAL FUNDING SOURCES NEEDED TO SUSTAIN NHIS 6th Sept. 2018

The Upper East Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority [NHIA], Mr. Sebastian Alagpulinsa, has observed that Ghana cannot make any significant progress in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage by the year 2030 with the current state of funding sources of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
 

Mr. Alagpulinsa who made the observation during the Mid-year performance review meeting held at the regional capital, Bolgatanga last week, stated that the Scheme which was more than a decade old now still depended on funding sources largely being the 2.5 percent of NHI levy, 2.5 per cent SSNIT contributions and the premium paid by members of the scheme which forms less than 5 percent.

“I must admit that these current state of funding sources alone cannot sustain the rising cost of the Scheme which is largely due to health services utilization by our members”, Mr. Alagpulinsa emphasised.

He noted that per the World Health Organization Standards, the Scheme would need not less than 86.00 US Dollars per a member per annum to be able to provide the desired quality healthcare but sadly, he stated that the current funding basket could only provide 30.00 US Dollars per a member per annum.

The NHIA Director noted that the woeful inadequate funding sources for the Scheme  were not only affecting the attainment of the Universal Health Coverage, but  was  also leading to copayments at the points of service delivery, a phenomenon that poses financial hardships on beneficiaries of the scheme, especially the vulnerable. 

According to him, the administration of poor quality medicines for NHIS members by some accredited health facilities, the delay of reimbursement for service providers, poor  infrastructure  especially at the providers’ side, high attrition of NHIS Staff among other impediments are all traceable to  the limited funding sources of the Scheme. 

He revealed that among other efforts to help address the challenges confronting the Scheme, the Management of the Scheme in collaboration with organised labor, held stakeholders’ engagement fora   in all the 10 Regions of Ghana as well as in all Districts across the country. 

During these engagements, a number of proposals were made chief among them being calls to broaden the scope of the funding sources. He mentioned one percent increment In the NHI Levy  from 2.5% to 3.5%, one percent direct contribution from employees’ salary and the 2% from employers, a percentage from the country’s oil revenues, health taxes on items such as cigarettes, alcohol and sugar and  a portion of the communication revenues to be voted to the Scheme also formed part of the proposals from participants.

 Mr. Alagpulinsa called on all stakeholders to support the implementation of the above these laudable proposals and noted that the successful implementation of the said proposals would not only quicken the attainment of the Universal Access to Health Coverage, but would equally help sustain the Scheme well enough and allow for its effective running leading to quality delivery of health services to the citizenry.

This year’s Mid-year performance review forum was themed “Improving the Financing Model of the National Health Insurance Scheme: Ensuring Sustainability and Attaining Universal Health Coverage in Ghana by 2030”. The meeting served as a platform for all the Municipal and District Managers of the Scheme from all the 15 Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to deliver power point presentations about their achievements, challenges and the way forward. 

The event was also a learning process for many as best practices, experiences, and success stories   were told and also how some problems were effectively handled thus allowing for all to learn from their peers.  

A section of the participants