Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Chief Executive, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye was Africa’s exclusive representative at the 14th Global Health Insurance Conference held in Praque, Czech Republic.
From 6th to 7th October, 2022, the gathering brought together industry experts to proffer in-depth knowledge about the latest challenges and innovations the industry is facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delivering his speech on the theme “Ghana’s National Health Insurance, the journey so far, ” the NHIA Chief Executive made a case for foreign direct investment in the medical insurance sector in Ghana.
He gave an overview of Ghana’s Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the health insurance space in Africa.
The NHIA Boss disclosed the huge opportunities for private investors to inject capital into the private health insurance industry.
“Investment in health insurance will not only provide access to healthcare but also create jobs for the youth.”
He said available records indicated that a little over 500,000 residents were registered by Ghana’s private health insurance companies and underscored the need for more investors.
“The National Health Insurance Authority, as the regulator of the private health insurance space is more than willing to facilitate the participation of private partners.”
“We at the National Health Insurance Authority are not in competition with the private insurers. Our objective is to ensure that every Ghanaian is on health insurance, be it private or public.”
Dr. Okoe Boye unearthed that close to 10 million people in Ghana are without any form of health insurance.
He said, “most of these people are in the middle and upper class and do pay for care out of pocket with the assumption that they can afford healthcare any time they are sick.”
He said the NHIS remained Ghana’s leading vehicle to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by the year 2030.
The 14th edition of Global Health Insurance Conference sought to better equip the insurers and healthcare providers with answers on how to thrive amid this constantly evolving and changing landscape.
It aimed to answer the question of how to develop a healthcare ecosystem that is beneficial for everyone while acknowledging the new data-sharing regulations, how to incorporate digital solutions in a convenient way that enables long-term engagement with customers, therefore helping to transform the healthcare system into a fully integrated customer-centric model.
