Parliament has adopted the report of The Committee of The Whole on the proposed formula for the disbursement of the National Health Insurance Fund for the year 2018.

According to the report submitted to the House for consideration in relation to revenue projections for 2018, The Authority is expected to receive a total amount of GH¢2,375.24 million in 2018 from NHIL/SSNIT aid other sources to be able to execute its mandate in 2018.

The breakdown of the projections are as follows:

Levies NHIL 1,814.86 /76.41

SSNIT 419.06 /17.64

Premium ( Informal) 59.42 /2.50

Income on Investment 15.73 /0.66

Processing Fees 64.17 /2.70

ID Card Auth. Software 1.20 /0.05

Other Income 0.30 /0.04

Additional Support/ Required to Finance Gap 0.00/ 0.00

Total 2,375,24 100.00

Revenue and expenditure for 2017, on accrual basis, the total budget expenditure for the year ending 31st December, 2017 was GH¢1,719.85 million as against an annual budget of GH¢2,261.74 million.

This resulted in a difference of GH¢541.89 million.

The Authority’s Budget allocation for NHlL/SSNIT for 2017 was GH¢1,734.46 million as contained in the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the 2017 Financial Year.

However, NHIL/SSNIT collections for the year (including estimated NHlL collections for December 2017 and SSNIT collections from October to December 2017) was GH¢1,564.01 million.

Of the total collections, an amount of GH¢1,205.38 million constituting 77.07% had been received by the Authority as at 31st December, 2017.

According to the Chairman of The Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, “active membership coverage of the Scheme in 2017 stood at 37% with the Countries population of 28,958,587 in the Year. The NHlA has estimated to cover 42%.of the projected population of 29,028,484 in 2018. Active membership of the Scheme is therefore expected to be 12,242,288 in 2018.”

Under the review of investment performance and position as at 31st December 2017, it was captured in the report that, investments of the Authority are in fixed deposits largely with the banks and as at 1st January, 2017, investments valued GH¢76.22 million and the investment portfolio earned a total interest of GH¢14.05 million for the 12 months period.

The balance as at 31st December, 2017 stood at GH¢72.73 million.

The decrease in the investment balance was largely due to disinvestments.

Dis-investments amounting to GH¢71.99 million was applied to pay part of medical claims.

The amount of GH¢59.42 million estimated to be received as premium from the informal sector represents an average premium of GH¢18.26 per member for a projected active membership of 3,254,440 in 2018.

Proceeds from processing fees from both the formal and informal sectors is projected at GH¢64.17 million.

The estimate represents an average fee of GH¢6.11 per member for a projected membership of 10,517,577 from both sectors in 2018.

The projected membership excludes pregnant women and the indigent categories.

The Authority expects to receive a total interest income of GH¢15.73 million based on an expected portfolio size of GH¢85 million at a projected return of 18.50% per annum.

In his concluding note, Mr. Osei-Owusu said, “inadequate funding remains a major problem of NHlS and a serious threat to the sustenance of the Scheme.”

The Committee therefore, called on the Government to seek additional sources of funding to address the financial and logistical challenges confronting the Scheme.

The Committee also urged the Ministry of Finance to ensure timely releases of funds to the NHlA, to avoid delays in claims/debts settlements and to also enable the Authority deal with some of its logistical challenges.