The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) expects to receive a total amount of GH₵2.3bn in 2018 to be able to execute its mandate for the year, a Parliamentary report on the Proposed Formula for the Disbursement of the NHIF for Year 2018 has revealed.
According to the ‘Committee report of the Whole’, an amount of GH₵59m is estimated to be received as premium from the informal sector – representing an average premium of 18.26 per member for a projected active membership of 3,254,440 in 2018.
The Authority expects to receive a total interest income of GH₵15m based on an expected portfolio size of GH₵85million at a projected return of 18.50 percent.
Proceeds from processing fees from both the formal and informal sectors are projected at GH₵64m.The estimate represents an average fee of GH₵6.11 per member for a projected membership of 10,517,577 from both sectors in 2018. The projected membership excludes pregnant women and the indigent categories.
Furthermore, the report also revealed that in the 2017 Formula for disbursement of the National Health Insurance Fund, there was a funding gap of GH₵379.68m- contributing to the myriad challenges of NHIA, including threats by service providers to withdraw services.
“It was therefore gratifying to note that there is no funding gap in the 2018 Proposed Formula. The Committee commends officials of the NHIA for their prudent financial management and efforts that led to elimination of the funding gap it had been grappling with for years,” the report noted.
Among objectives of the NHIA this year is to embark on a nationwide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) campaign as part of its efforts to intensifythe use of ICT to ensure smooth operations.
The Authority says the nationwide ICT will help deal with the issue of rising cost of claims and administration and eliminate fraud in the insurance system.
Additionally, the report indicated that the active membership coverage of the Scheme in 2017 stood at 37 percent, with the country’s population at 28m in that year. The NHIA has estimated covering 42 percent of the projected population of 29m in 2018; active membership of the Scheme is therefore expected to be 12m in 2018.
