Abolish suspension penalty - Govt urged

An appeal has been made to the government to ensure that the three months’ suspension penalty imposed on defaulting clients of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) be abolished.

Mr Elvis K. Payin, a former Vice Chairman of the Effutu Municipal Area branch of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday, said that would bring relief to premium holders of the scheme.

Mr Payin said the suspension penalty introduced by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) a couple of years ago was doing more harm than good to ordinary Ghanaians who were premium holders and must be reviewed as a matter of urgency to bring some respite to people who had embraced the policy.

He said most clients did not check the expiry dates on their NHIS identity (ID) cards regularly, adding that besides that millions of illiterate premium holders always fell victim to the default penalty because they did not get people to check the expiry dates of their ID cards for them at the appropriate time except when they reported at the various accredited hospitals for medical attention.

Mr Payin said since the national health insurance policy was introduced principally to help the poor in society to secure affordable health care, the government must always ensure that the system was not entangled with tougher regulations and conditions which would deprive the vulnerable in the society of enjoying the benefits which the policy provided.

The former TEWU chairman has, therefore, called on the government to impress upon the NHIA to review its stand in the three months’ suspension penalty punishment inflicted on clients of the scheme in order to sustain the interest of Ghanaians in the policy.

That way, Mr Payin added, “we will be maintaining the gains the policy has chalked so far and develop it further because the system is good, but we must find a more acceptable means of enforcing the renewal of the ID cards without necessarily subjecting the people to some sort of indirect punishments.

He said besides the various branches of the NHIA intensifying their sensitisation activities on the renewal of the ID cards, various religious organisations and district, municipal and metropolitan assembly members must also take it upon themselves to educate the people on the importance of the renewal of the NHIS cards.