The Minority is demanding the settlement of all arrears owed National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) providers.

According to the caucus, the government has failed to fulfil its obligations to these providers since July 2021; a situation which it says is crippling the sustenance of the scheme.

Health Service Providers on the National Health Insurance Scheme have bemoaned the delay in the disbursement of claims by the government for services they have rendered under the scheme.

According to the group, they have not received payment for their services since July 2021, and several attempts to have the Ministry of Health address their grievances have failed.

Speaking to the press in Parliament, Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh chastised the government for ignoring the concerns of the health service providers.

“Since July 2021, the Minister of Finance has not paid the levies collected in the name of the National Health Insurance Levy to the NHIS Fund and for that matter, the service providers are threatening to withdraw their services. This is how bad it is. So if you go to any health facility in this country that accesses NHIS subscribers, don’t be surprised if they turn you away because they have not been paid since July 2021. If you suffocate health facilities like this, how do you expect them to operate?”

Vice President of the Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana, Samuel Boakye Donkor, has said most of the health service providers on the scheme have thus been compelled to return to the cash and carry system due to the situation.

“The annoying part is that when you write letters to the Minister and Chief Director, they do not respond. The next line of action is that we will take money from patients. We will switch from the NHIS to the cash and carry system,” he added.

This is not the first time the association has issued such a threat over monies owed to them by the government.

In 2019 and 2020, they raised the same concerns and urged the government to take urgent action.