The Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG), is threatening to withdraw its services if the government and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) fail to pay all arrears owed them.
The Association has therefore issued a two-week ultimatum to that effect.
HISPAG is claiming that the government owes them over GHC 100 million and all efforts to get the money paid have yielded no result.
[contextly_sidebar id=”N5DFtOfmOsDP2atinDvSC7qb5Ac6jehg”]Addressing a news conference in Accra, the Executive Director of the Association, Frank Toblo said the two institutions must immediately settle their debt because the situation is crippling their work.
He warned that any form of intimidation from the government will “not be tolerated…the best form of intimidation that the providers can tolerate is the total payment of over-due claims.”
Mr. Toblo stressed that government’s refusal to pay the money will consequently lead to unrest in the health sector and the total rejection of NHIS card bearing members.
The issue of non-payment of outstanding claims to HISPAG has been lingering for sometime now.
In June 2014, HISPAG served notice to the NHIA that members may be forced to withdraw their services if the Authority is unable to pay its accrued debt.
The Association acknowledged that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was one of the best pro-poor social intervention mechanisms rolled out in Ghana but expressed regret about the repeated delay in the payment of claims to service providers nationwide.
Later in July, the leadership of HISPAG threatened to drag the NHIA to court to enable it retrieve monies owed them since their earlier demands were not addressed.
The Director of Operations and Communications for HISPAG, Anthony Ameka in an earlier interview with Citi News complained that his outfit did not receive any payment from the NHIA and as a result, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) were suing HISPAG members for delayed payment.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana