The governing board and management of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has met with Private Health Insurance Scheme (PHIS) operators to discuss ways to better improve their services.
The stakeholder engagement held in Accra was under the theme “Challenges facing the private health insurance industry.”
The meeting which was at the instance of the NHIA Board, covered a broad range of topics such as governance, operational, financial and general challenges in Ghana’s Private Health Insurance Scheme industry.
The NHIA Board Chair, Professor Adu-Gyamfi and other members of the Board responded to concerns raised by the participants and took notes for future discussions.
Professor Adu-Gyamfi urged the participants to desist from acts of impropriety that could derail the financial position of mutual health insurance scheme operators.
The NHIA’s Chief Executive, Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby reassured the stakeholders that the NHIA would help sustain their operations.
Director of the PHIS Directorate, Hudu Issah bemoaned the illegal operations of unlicensed local and international private health insurance companies in the country.
He asked the stakeholders to cooperate with the NHIA in clamping down on the activities of the invisible international operators.
“Serve as watchdogs and help to get rid of the unlicensed service providers.”
It was re-echoed that any other institution, firm, company, or individual(s) purporting to offer health insurance services without licensing from the NHIA is doing so in violation of Section 63 of the National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852).
The participants were Shareholders, Board Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers / Managing Directors of private health insurance schemes. Currently, the NHIA has licensed 14 Private Health Insurance Schemes.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri