The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) on August 27, disbursed an amount of GHS154 million to health facilities nationwide on August 27.

On August 6, NHIA disbursed over GHC 243 million to healthcare facilities, bringing total claims paid in August 2025 alone to approximately GHS400 million. The total payments made by the NHIA in the past eight months stand at over GH¢1.897 billion.

A month ago, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) disbursed an amount of GH¢267.67 million as claims. The disbursement became possible following approval by Chief Executive Dr. Victor Asare-Bampoe.

For the Authority, its significant disbursement demonstrates its unwavering commitment to sustaining the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and ensuring that healthcare providers are resourced and motivated to deliver quality services to our cherished members.

"The NHIA remains focused on improving efficiency, enhancing provider relations, and delivering on its mandate to ensure financial access to quality healthcare for all residents of Ghana. We thank our stakeholders for their continued support and assure the public of our dedication to transparency, accountability, and timely payments," the NHIA said in a statement.

The Authority has stated that it is firstly committed to strengthening internal controls and operational efficiencies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Four months ago, the Private Health Facilities Association of Ghana (PHFAoG) suspended health insurance services for National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cardholders at all its member facilities, citing the National Health Insurance Authority's (NHIA) failure to settle outstanding claims.

In a statement signed by its President, Dr. Kwame Buabeng-Frimpong, on Friday, April 4, the association disclosed that the NHIA owed service providers for claims dating as far back as September and October 2024, despite multiple assurances.

The PHFAoG highlighted the severe financial strain the delays have placed on member facilities, making it increasingly difficult for them to deliver quality healthcare to NHIS beneficiaries.

The group also expressed disappointment that the NHIA had failed to honour its recent commitment to settle claims by the end of March, as outlined in a March 25, 2025, press release from the Authority.

The association has called for urgent intervention to resolve the impasse to ensure the continuity of health services for Ghanaians enrolled in the scheme. Following the suspension, NHIA paid GH¢834 million to various healthcare providers across the country.

Presently, it is the aim of the Authority to restore public trust and confidence by reducing out-of-pocket payments through frequent tariff reviews, enhanced monitoring and public education, effective provider engagement, and stricter enforcement of NHIS policies.

Meanwhile, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), is making progress on the implementation of the government’s flagship Free Primary Health Care (FPHC) policy, seeking to ensure universal access to affordable and quality health services for all residents in Ghana.

The NHIA Operations Deputy Chief Executive, Dr. Kwesi Senanu Djokoto chaired a crucial meeting on August 26, for a review of the progress made.

He expressed satisfaction with the work accomplished so far and emphasized the need to link the policy to the NHIA core mandate of providing financial risk protection against healthcare costs for all residents in Ghana, in line with the global agenda of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.

The NHIA Chief Executive, Senior Technical Advisor, Dr. Chris Atim provided an update on the policy's development and commended the taskforce and sub-committee teams for their devotion. Dr. Anthony Gingong highlighted key areas identified by the taskforce that required further attention.

These included the request for a comprehensive training manual, the need for basic training and emergency equipment, ensuring the immediate availability of a service package, establishing a clear and transparent payments mechanism, clarifying the governance structure between the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS), defining the nature of referrals and providing a clear distinction between "Mahama Care" and the new Free Primary Healthcare policy.

Representatives of the various Directorates made presentations and demonstrated their commitment to working with the technical team and sub-committees for the successful implementation of the FPHC policy.

The collaborative spirit of the meeting underscored the NHIA's dedication to ensuring the new policy is well-structured and effective in its delivery of primary healthcare services to the vulnerable populations.

Since the policy’s introduction, the Authority has held a series of stakeholder engagements and designed the blueprint and formed a technical team and subcommittees working assiduously to guarantee the policy’s successful implementation.