The Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana has issued a stern warning, announcing its intention to stop accepting Private Health Insurance due to the National Health Insurance Authority's (NHIA) failure to regulate private insurance companies adequately.
This failure has resulted in outstanding arrears owed to health facilities.
The association expressed frustration over the arrears, citing the inability to pay staff salaries and procure essential medical and non-medical supplies.
In an interview with Citi News, Frank-Torbu, the General Secretary of the Association, emphasized that the grace period for addressing these issues had elapsed.
“It wouldn't be long; we will take them on. We won't accept their cards when they visit our facilities, and I make it categorically clear that we don't even need them to survive as a healthcare provider, but they need us to be in business,” Frank-Torbu stated.
He further highlighted the impact on those who rely on private health insurance, stating, “So those companies that have been signing on to these private health insurance companies, thinking that they are safe, I can tell you for sure that you are not at all because when we trigger that we are no longer going to accept them in our facilities, premise on the fact from the insurance company they are bringing to our facilities, that is where they would begin to see the wrong on what the insurance companies are doing.”
Frank-Torbu placed the responsibility on the government, particularly the NHIA, to ensure that accredited private health insurance companies meet expectations and fulfill financial obligations to health facilities.
“It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that whichever company they give credentials or accreditation or a license to operate as a private health insurance company in this country lives up to expectations, but that is not what the government is doing—I mean the National Health Insurance Authority,” he revealed.