Involve more subscribers in payment of premium

A stakeholder of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mr. Mohammed Lacina Diaby, has proposed a cut in the number of exempt groups in the Scheme, to ensure that more subscribers paid premium to strengthen its financial base annually.

This, he said, would also supplement the efforts of the Government in footing the medical bills of the vulnerable citizens who had no caretakers at all to support them.

Mr. Diaby, was interacting with a Ghana News Agency correspondent in Winneba on the future of the NHIS policy.

In his opinion, the exempt category must be reviewed to include only children below 10 years, the very disabled persons who have no family support, and mentally sick persons in society.

He suggested that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and Cap 30 Pensioners who received monthly pension pay, pregnant women, children aged 11 years and above, and LEAP beneficiaries who obtained financial support from their husbands, families and the government, should be made to pay premium on their NHIS membership annually.

According to Mr. Diaby, currently about 69 percent of registered subscribers of the NHIS, including pregnant women, pensioners and children under18 years, did not pay any premium because they belonged to the various exempt groups.

He expressed fears that “if we continue on this tangent the policy may collapse and the same groups we want to protect are going to suffer.”

He stressed the need to review the exempt group categories, in order to generate enough premium to sustain the policy.