The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) says it is poised to tackle illegal payments demanded by service providers from clients while accessing healthcare at the various facilities.
Dr Ernest Kwarko, the board chair of the NHIA says the Authority will soon introduce an electronic payment system to curb such practices in the health insurance sector.
Dr Kwarko was speaking at a media engagement in Accra ahead of the 2021 NHIS Week Celebration.
He said, “…and now the illegal payments; I have actually gone ahead to form an ad hoc committee to tackle it head-on. All the relevant stakeholders including Ghana Health Service (GHS) are all this committee…
“We have to tackle it head-on because it doesn’t make any sense if a pregnant woman who needs the service and you are collecting monies that are financial asset barrier. So we are going to take it up…”
Meanwhile, Dr Lydia Dsane-Selby, the CEO of the NHIA also said the Authority is strategising to get more people in the urban areas to register onto the scheme.
Dr Dsane-Selby said, “…Traditionally, health insurance was marketed as a pro-poor strategy. So for a long time, Accra people thought we were never poor, even the poor feel they are not poor. In the beginning, when we were trying to register indigenes even in the rural areas [it was also difficult]…
“It has taken us a long time to get those who need help to accept the help… [There’s] so much work around trying to change the conception; so you find Takoradi is quite difficult to penetrate because it’s an oil city they feel they are not poor and we need to market it differently.”
She added, “if we bring prevention on board properly, we can market the scheme in a different way and maybe attract all these people into the scheme. But it’s a challenge…”
Additions to the scheme
Dr Dsane-Selby said the NHIA is also considering the coverage of the treatment of childhood cancers and family planning services under the scheme.
This follows the successful piloting and actuarial studies conducted to determine the financial sustainability of the scheme.
She said analysis indicated that the scheme could accommodate the treatment of childhood cancers and provision of family planning services without much strain.
The decision is in line with the 2030 Universal Health Coverage (UHC) target of achieving 80% reduction of health care cost for patients, 80% coverage of the population on NHIS, and making health care accessible to 80% of the population.
In Ghana, about 1200 children under the age of 15 are estimated to develop cancer annually.
Leukaemia, lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms’ tumour, soft tissue sarcoma and neuroblastoma are among the most common forms in the country.
Experts, however, estimate that only about 20% to 30% of patients receive professional treatment, often due to inhibitive costs.
The average expenditure for treating childhood cancer is estimated at US$1000.
In the treatment of Leukaemia, however, the cost can reach $ 7000 for up to three years.
Dr Dsane-Selby said the treatment of childhood cancers was less expensive and that there was a 90% survival rate on a global stage, with Ghana now having a 37% survival rate.
Family planning
She said, “If we are to add family planning, there would be an initial pressure but it won’t affect us that much and it would be very easy to add both of them on.”
After two-year piloting of family planning in nine districts, she said, the cost was bearable with the modalities working well.
She, however, noted that there existed a challenge of low uptake due to cultural and social barriers.
There are about 1.6 million women who are using a modern method of contraception, with a 23.2% prevalence rate in all women and 29.8% prevalence in married women, according to the Track 2020 Family Planning Project.
NHIA Week
The 2021 NHIS Week Celebration, among other targets, aims at increasing membership and creating awareness on childhood cancers and family planning.
The celebration will also serve as a platform to extend health care access by promoting the use of the Ghana Card to renew NHIS membership and also deepen awareness and knowledge of the NHIS benefit package.
It is under the theme: “NHIS: Using the Ghana Card for Expanded Health Service.”
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