The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has announced significant improvements and upcoming reforms to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), highlighting renewed confidence, financial stability and expanded coverage under the current administration.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, December 1 at the Presidency, the Minister said government inherited a challenged health insurance system grappling with delayed payment of claims, capped funding, unrealistic tariffs, and widespread co-payments.
He noted that these problems undermined service delivery and frustrated healthcare providers.
“We were voted into power to solve problems, the National Health Insurance Scheme had been capped and was bedevilled with delays in the payment of claims and unrealistic tariffs,” he said.
Mr. Akandoh stated that one of the first policy directives issued by President John Dramani Mahama was to un-cap the NHIS, ensuring that funds due the scheme are released promptly.
This, he said, has restored stability and eliminated the constant threats of service withdrawal by frustrated providers.
“Gone were the days when you would hear service providers shouting on rooftops that they were going to withdraw services because payments were not coming. Today, in some cases, my CEO has to call providers to submit their claims for payment,” he added.
The Minister reported a surge in confidence in the scheme, with NHIS coverage increasing from 18 million to about 20 million people in less than a year, representing approximately 60% national coverage.
To further strengthen the scheme, Mr. Akandoh announced that government will increase NHIS tariffs by an average of 120% beginning next year.
He said this responds directly to providers’ long-standing concerns that existing tariffs were unrealistic and did not reflect the cost of healthcare delivery.
He expressed confidence that the tariff adjustment would be a “game changer,” improving service quality, provider satisfaction and overall sustainability of the scheme.
The Minister emphasized government’s commitment to building a more efficient and dependable health insurance system for all Ghanaians.
