Since the introduction of the Biometric Identification Card system by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the Authority has been overwhelmed by the influx of subscribers seeking to renew their cards in the Upper East Region.
Aware of the problem, the Upper East Regional Director of the NHIA, Mr. Amos Akurugu Akparibo, during the annual performance review meeting in Bolgatanga, outlined a number of measures to deal with the problem.
They include intensive public education and sensitisation, so that people with old cards would only come to register when their cards expire or are about to; staff running shifts, with some district offices working 24 hours; staff working overtime and even during weekends; opening registration centres at provider sites where they had VSAT connections upgraded; and institutional registration by going to schools, workplaces, departments and other institutions to register their members.
He said in spite of the challenges that came as a result of the introduction of the Biometric ID card system, the system has advantages over the previous magnetic cards, and that it could clean the membership database by eliminating multiple registrations, impersonation, and allow for client authentication at the provider sites, thereby reducing abuses of the NHIS.
The Director revealed that the authority has enrolled a total active membership of 627,659, representing 55% of the estimated population of 1,135,310. Meanwhile, 93,013 clients have since been issued with Biometric ID cards.
Mr. Akurugu revealed that with regards to claims, the NHIA had paid GH¢10,400,506 to providers in the region. These represented payments for claims up to the month of July, 2014, while the NHIA’s indebtedness to providers, as at 30th December 2014, stood at GH¢8,548,000. He, however, indicated they had assurance from their head office that all arrears owed service providers would be paid by the second quarter of 2015.
Claims utilisation within the period under review also stood at 1,311,925. Claims utilisation was explained as the number of times a subscriber visits and uses accredited facilities. This, he noted, was an indication of the growing confidence people have in the NHIS.
In terms of premium mobilisation from the informal sector, the region gathered GH¢1,455,642.25 as premium, as against their target of GH¢1,612,273 in 2014.
Inadequate staff, especially Management Information Officers, inadequate office space; inadequate furniture and other logistics in the district offices and aged and broken down vehicles were mentioned as challenges that confronted the authority last year.
Touching on performance expectations for 2015, Mr. Akurugu, said they are expected to increase active membership of the regional population by 8%, that is, from 627,659 to 677,872, which translates into a quarterly target of 169,468 for the region; increase coverage of the poor by 15% over that of 2014; increase premium by 15% over that of last year – from 63,428 in 2014 to 72,942 in 2015, and promote an excellent relationship between the HNIA and its stakeholders by resolving all complaints.
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