Release funds now to avert NHIS collapse – Minority to Govt
The Minority in Parliament has called on the Bawumia-led Economic Management Team to direct the Minister responsible for Finance to release and transfer all outstanding payments to the National Health Insurance Fund by close of the week.
According to the caucus, this is to prevent the scheme from being imperilled due to lack of funds.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the Finance Minister to comply with the provisions of the National Health Insurance Act (Act 852).
Realignment Act has denied the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) payments of over GHS6.0billion. These payments could have gone a long way to improve on the health of the fund and help expand its services to critical treatments like dialysis and cancer care, which currently are not covered by the scheme.
Also, according to the National Health Insurance Act (Act 852), Section 52(1), “The Minister responsible for Finance shall, within thirty days after collection of the levy, cause the levy to be paid directly into the fund and furnish the Minister responsible for Health and the Authority with evidence of the payment.”
However, in flagrant disregard of this statute, the Minister responsible for Finance under the Bawumia-led economic management team places very little priority on the NHIS. While the Ministry collects the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) on almost all goods and services monthly as prescribed by law, it habitually delays even the meagre portions it has allocated of these receipts into the National Health Insurance Fund, leading to extended periods during which private health service providers decide not to attend to NHIS cardholders.
In a recent shameless charade to deceive Ghanaians, the Minister of Finance, after five months of not transferring a Cedi to the NHIS, issued a letter directing the Controller and Accountant General to transfer GHS2.4billion to the NHIF. This empty gesture, with no actual intention to make payments, was nothing less than gross official deception and has left the scheme in a state of insolvency.
The underfunding of the scheme has the potential to trigger epidemics such as measles and cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM), as witnessed in the 2022 and 2023, leading to increased morbidity and mortality among the Ghanaian residents. If the current situation persists with the government’s refusal to fund the NHIS, 2024 may see a resurgence of childhood diseases previously eradicated in Ghana. This outcome must be avoided at all costs.
Unfortunately, the management of the National Health Insurance Authority has consistently failed in its fiduciary duty to ensure the viability of the fund. How can a CEO of a fund that has not received a transfer this year be out there granting interviews and claiming the fund is robust if not for the fact that he is a puppet being operated by Bawumia and company?
The NHIA management remained silent when the fund was capped in 2017 for no real logical reason.
Over the years, they have allocated their meagre resources to exorbitant IT projects that have not yielded any real returns for the Scheme.
All these raise probing questions as to whether their primary duty is to protect and support the sustenance and improvement of the scheme or to cater to the political whims and caprices of the Bawumia-led economic management team, even if it means compromising the scheme’s integrity.
These combined factors of capping, zero transfers and a complicit or pliant management has compounded the already precarious financial position of the NHIS and contradicts the Akufo-Addo administration’s previous stance in opposition while exposes the Bawumia-led economic management team’s gross dereliction of attending to the health needs of Ghanaians.
The Bawumia-led economic management team must however take cognisance of the fact that the NHIS relies on the trust that the government will pay claims of subscribers when they fall due. Undermining this trust threatens the very existence of the fund as established by law.
The Minority therefore calls on the Bawumia-led Economic Management Team to direct the Minister responsible for Finance to release and transfer all outstanding payments to the National Health Insurance Fund by close of the week to prevent the scheme from being imperilled due to lack of funds.
Furthermore, we urge the Minister responsible for Finance to fully comply with the provisions of the National Health Insurance Act (Act 852), as non-compliance has clear consequences outlined in the Act.
In conclusion, the Minority assures all Ghanaians that we will not relent in our oversight responsibility of holding this government accountable. Ensuring that the needs of the average Ghanaian are met, including health, in a timely manner according to our statutes is our highest priority.
Thank you and may God bless you.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
(MP for Juaboso and Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health)
