Parliament has approved the formula for the distribution of subsidies to be paid licensed District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes for the year 2009, following a recommendation by the Committee of the Whole. The formula is for a total allocation of GH¢462.94 million to be spent for various activities under the National Health Insurance Scheme. The amount which represents accruals to the National Health Insurance Fund for the year, is expected to be spent on subsidy for exempt groups, operations of the National Health Insurance Authority, Preventive Care Programmes, Health Service Investments among others. An amount of GH¢246.30 million has been allocated to be spent on subsidy for exempt groups, GH¢12.26 million on the operations of the National Health Insurance Authority, GH¢41.50 million on preventive care programmes and GH¢66.00 million on health service investment. Other allocations are; GH¢40.00 million on reinsurance claim, GH¢32.10 million on administration and logistics, GH¢6.18 million on headquarters building, GH¢12.60 million on MIS & ICT solution and GH¢6.00 million on the construction of regional offices. In its report, the committee noted that based on the projections of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for 2009, the National Health Insurance Fund was expected to realise GH¢375.21. The report said the amount represented an increase of 49.24 per cent over the previous year's allocation of GH¢235.42 million and GH¢16 million British Grant. "The 2009 project receipt is expected from the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions and a British Grant," the report said. It added that there was an additional allocation of GH¢87.73 million from the Reserve Fund bringing the total expected receipts for the year to GH¢462.94 million. According to the report, the authority had set a target of 65 per cent coverage for 2008 and current registration figures indicate that 61.29 per cent of the population has been registered. It said based on the available statistics on the performance, a registration target of 75 per cent had been set for the year 2009, adding that "the allocation of the fund is therefore based on the assumption that 75 per cent of the population in Ghana will access benefits under the scheme in 2009". The report said currently, the NHIA had 145 schemes fully operational and no additional provision had been made to cover anymore schemes in 2009 except the establishment of satellite offices in the newly created districts. It added that given the rising cost of medical bills, the NHIS had proposed to increase the subsidy per person from GH¢14 to GH¢18. It said as of the close of the 2008 fiscal year, GH¢282,479,328.74 remained in investment yielding GH¢36.28 million and indicated that that amount would not be available for allocation as it would be retained in the investment account to grow the fund. Story by Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah/Daily Graphic