The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was established by the government of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

in 2003. The program was a form of

national health insurance National health insurance (NHI), sometimes called statutory health insurance (SHI), is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector ...

established to provide equitable access and financial coverage for basic health care services to Ghanaian

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

. Ghana's

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

system has been described as the most successful

healthcare system Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...

on the

African continent Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

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. The system has been found to have made Ghana's rate of health insurance one of the highest in Africa, though funding problems may complicate its future.

Birth of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme

The National Health Insurance Scheme is a form of social intervention established by the Government of Ghana in the year 2003. The scheme provides equitable access and financial coverage for basic health care services to residents in Ghana. The objective of the NHIS is to secure the implementation of the national health insurance policy that ensures access to basic healthcare services to all residents of Ghana.

Premiums

Like all insurance schemes, different types of premiums are available under the country's NHIS. Ghanaian contributors are grouped according to their levels of income. Based on the group a Ghanaian contributor may fall in, there is specific premium that ought to be paid.

Controversies

Since the inception of the scheme in 2003, there have been a lot of controversies surrounding its operation and purpose. The first one was to do with members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose members claimed that the scheme was one made for members of the then ruling

New Patriotic Party , logo = , colorcode = #132f7a , founder = , founded = 28 July 1992 , dissolved = , leader = Nana Akufo-Addo , chairman = Stephen Ayensu Ntim Stephen Ntim elected NPP National Chairman on fifth attempt http://www.gna.org.gh/1.2152672 ...

(NPP). As such many members of NDC did not want to register with the scheme. The reverse of all the propaganda that surrounded the scheme at its inception were revisited in 2009 when the NDC took over power. The NDC during its campaign leading to the 2008 general elections promised to make the payment of premiums under the scheme a one-time event. This idea was included in the NDC's manifesto. The promise has so far not come into fruition as the date for its implementation is constantly postponed. Many critics of the proposal claim that it is just not possible to support the scheme with a one-time premium since the sustainability of the scheme would not be possible if premiums were not paid yearly. The promise could however not be implemented during the 8 year reign of the NDC.

Linking of NHIS card to Ghana Card

In November 2020, a short code was introduced to facilitate the integration of the National Health Insurance card and the Ghana Card. This was in line with the drive to make the Ghana Card the sole means of gaining access to public services.

References

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