National Health Insurance Authority to outdoor drug list

Ho, Nov. 30, GNA- Mr. Ras Boateng, Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Authority, said the body would come out with a new drugs list and revised tariffs with effect from January next year. He explained that drugs recognized under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) were generic drugs and not branded ones adding that approved drugs contained essential ingredients like those in branded drugs, which were more expensive.

Mr. Ras Boateng, Executive Secretary of the Authority said these at the presentation of identity cards to 100 physically challenged persons and their dependants in the Ho Municipal, in Ho. He said as from next year, payment of claims to approved health facilities would be based on diagnoses of clients.

Mr. Boateng said uniform identity cards would be issued to clients who would be eligible to access health care at approved institutions anywhere in the country.

He said regional claims management centers would be established in all regional capitals through out the country to handle claims in respect of clients who would receive medical care outside the jurisdiction of their schemes.

Mr. Boateng said the Authority would develop a single database on all clients to be put into an integrated system to link all approved health facilities to facilitate the work of service providers. Mr. Charles Agboklu, Chairman of the Board of the Ho Municipal Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, said the registered members of the scheme had increased from 13,804 in 2005 to 53,070 as at October 2007, adding that out of that number 45,631 were issued with identity cards. He said in 2006, the Scheme received an amount of 2,045,333,333.00 cedis from the NHIS Council on behalf of beneficiaries and it went up to 3,536,634,300 cedis in 2007.

Mr. Agboklu said the Scheme also generated premium of 1,242,829,000 cedis and that a total of 7,145,755,765,000 cedis were paid to all health facilities for services rendered to its clients, while payments on behalf of sister schemes in the region were 1,100,507,994.00 cedis.