Members of the Health Committee in Parliament yesterday threw out officials of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to go and bring the Minister of Finance to explain anomalies in the release of funds for the Scheme.
The Committee is demanding why the Finance Ministry failed to lodge an amount of GH¢2.056 billion collected as insurance levies into the National Health Insurance Fund as required by law.
The Committee also expressed displeasure the Ministry only released a paltry GH¢127 million, less than 10% of the allocated amount to the Fund in 2021.
The NHI Act requires the Ministry of Finance to lodge health insurance levies collected into the NHI Fund within 30 days after collection and to report to Parliament every six months to account for monies collected within the year.
Ranking member of the Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, who disclosed this in Parliament during an interview on Thursday, March 31, 2022 stated the members received documents from the NHIA as part of its oversight responsibility.
He stated that the document dubbed NHI fund allocation formula 2022 indicated the government has collected GH¢2.056 billion in the name of the health insurance in 2021.
According to him, despite this colossal amount collected, the government has released only GH¢127 million, less than 10% of the amount collected in the year 2021.
He disclosed that when Parliament considered the 2022 Budget and passed the Appropriation Act, it approved GH¢3.3 billion for the NHI Fund yet in the formula GH¢2.6 billion is quoted.
The Committee, he said, queried the NHIA officials on his glaring disparity and the response they provided was that they have been instructed to cut down the budget by 30%.
The Ranking member said, “We don’t make laws on the floor of this House for people to sit in their offices to alter the law.”
“For these reasons, we asked them to go back and come with the Minister responsible for Health.”
“The NHI Act is clear that when the Finance Minister collects these monies, he is supposed to lodge same into the NHI Fund.”
“The Minister of Finance must explain why they have not lodged the GH¢2.056 billion into the NHI Fund,” he added.
Source: Mypublisher24.com