The acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Nathaniel Otoo, has declared that the scheme has not collapsed despite being faced with some challenges.
�Financial sustainability, delays in reimbursing providers, the identification of poor and vulnerable to enjoy exemptions, fraud and abuse, among others, are problems the authority is facing,� he added.
Mr Otoo revealed these at a press engagement to detail the media on the status of the authority and also dispel rumours that Ghana�s first attempt to provide universal healthcare to all residents of Ghana is headed for the grave.
He held that against speculations that the scheme has collapsed, there are records of people and healthcare providers registering daily to enjoy services by the scheme.
This, according to him, is an indication that the picture is not blurry as being painted out there. �This shows people still have confidence in the authority,� he held.
Speaking to issues of increasing premium and the exemption of some groups of people, the acting Chief Executive stated that processes are underway to commence a review of the scheme and make significant reforms which would change its fortunes.
He hinted that the Ministry of Health would soon lead the review process to enable issues plaguing the authority for so long to be addressed.
Mr Otoo stated that the delay in claims were due to the fact that they were being verified manually.
�Though we have electronic systems for healthcare providers to submit their claims through, only a few submit their claims electronically,� he noted.
He hoped that more healthcare providers would adopt the electronic process to submit their claims to enable them to be processed quickly.
In his explanation, he stated that the electronic process was quicker and involved less human input, compared to the manual process. �If healthcare providers submit electronically, claims payment would not delay,� he said.
He hinted that the authority was working to post some of its worker to assist persons registered with the scheme at hospitals with traffic.
This, in his estimation, would help minimise the problems that many encounter with regard to medications on the scheme and others at health facilities.
Currently, 10,545,428 active members are on the scheme.
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