Private Health Facilities on the National Health Insurance Scheme have rescinded an earlier decision to charge subscribers of the National Health Insurance Scheme.
This follows a renewed commitment by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to address their concerns.
The Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana (PHFAoG) gave government up to December 16, 2019, to address their indebtedness.
Among other grievances, the facilities were demanding payments spanning as far back as 2018.
A statement from the Association on Saturday, December 14, 2019, however, said a meeting with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) reached a favourable consensus.
“The decision is hinged on a renewed commitment and firm assurance given by the government to offset outstanding debts as a measure of relief to private health service providers and to revive the quality of services rendered”, the statement signed by Acting President of PHFAoG, Mr Samuel Boakye Donkor read.
The statement continued: “We would however reiterate the looming threat of low medicine tariffs and its intended effect on our operations. We therefore urge government to take a keen look at a possible tariff review in the shortest time possible to avert further agitation”.
We’ve arrested issue of ‘Cash and Carry’ —Akufo-Addo
At a media encounter on Friday, December 13, 2019, President Akufo-Addo said it has successfully dealt with issues of the ‘Cash and Carry’ system that affected the quality of healthcare delivery in Ghana.
He said the success was chalked following the payment of a GHS 1.2billion debt owed health service providers of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“We want to sustain the gains we made. It is the reason why some of the important legacies, especially the indebtedness that we have inherited, we have been able to deal with it. 1.2 billion cedis arrears on the National Health Insurance Scheme was an indebtedness of the scheme that threatened the idea of an insurance scheme and was gradually turning the scheme back to a cash and carry system. That has been arrested”, the President said.
He further remarked that: “Today, we are talking about National Health Insurance Scheme where the arrears are within 4 to 5 months. As at May this year, the indebtedness of the National Health Insurance scheme had been fully discharged. The claims of up to September are now those that are being dealt with in the system because there is always a line between the service, the claim, and the payment so there is always an inbuilt delay in settling arrears. It is not the best but there is a vast improvement of what we inherited. We want to work to make sure the scheme is pumped up”.
The NHIS has been saddled with huge debts and the development, according to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is crippling its operations.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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