Vice President  Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says government will do all within its power to ensure that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) succeeds.

Addressing a ceremony at the Jubilee House to celebrate the 15th
anniversary since the introduction of the NHIS and to launch new
innovations aimed at making the NHIS more efficient, Dr. Bawumia  said
the Ministry of Health and the Management of the NHIS have for the last
twenty four (24) months, through hardworking and dedication, rescued the
entire scheme from total collapse.

He emphasized that health insurance is now a path that all well
meaning countries aspire to achieve by the year 2030. Ghana, he said,
will do all within her power to achieve same before the year targeted by
the United Nations for attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) which is the year 2030.

“Fifteen years of proving access to health care to the people of
Ghana and on the path to achieving universal health coverage has not
been a merry ride, but we will surely get there with hard work,
dedication, perseverance, patriotism and discipline,” the Vice President
said.

Dr. Bawumia called of the citizenry to join forces with the NHIS, the
Ministry of Health and government to ensure that the NHIS succeeds,
saying, “To my fellow Ghanaians, let us join hands together to make the
NHIS work to make mother Ghana a healthy nation”. He added that
digitization has arrived at the NHIS and it is going to help the country
move a step closer to building a modern economy.

Minister for Health

The Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, in his remarks indicated
that if the Nation Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) fails, Ghana as a
country is doomed. He assured that the Ministry will continue to give
the NHIS and its management all the support they need to introduce more
innovations to improve the NHIS.

New Innovations

As part of on going efforts targeted at moving the NHIS into a new
age of efficiency, the scheme has introduced a dedicated Unstructured
Supplementary Service Data, (USSD) Code, (*929#), through which NHIS
members anywhere in the country and at anytime through their mobile
phones, can renew their annual subscriptions which hitherto has been a
source of worry for NHIS subscribers due to long queues and delays
associated with the exercise at the renewal centres.

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) launched the new
platform in December this year to allow clients of the National Health
Insurance Scheme(NHIS) to renew their annual membership on their mobile
phones. The system would be relying on the mobile money banking system
and the system is expected to permit clients to renew their membership
on any of the mobile money platforms. Additionally, the NHIS in
collaboration with the National Investment Bank will be using technology
to enhance their financial system in providing access to health care
through e-receipting to its customers in order to reduce manual
interventions in cash management.

The National Health Insurance Scheme

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is a social intervention
program introduced by government to provide financial access to quality
health care for residents in Ghana. The NHIS is largely funded by, the
National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), which is 2.5% levy on goods and
services collected under the Value Added Tax (VAT), 2.5 percentage
points of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT)
contributions per month,
returns on National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) investments premium
paid by informal sector subscribers and government allocation, all of
which complements the funding of the scheme. Several categories of
health care facilities have been credentialed by the National Health
Insurance Authority (NHIA) to provide services to subscribers.