a NDC A MOMENT OF TRUTH SERIES PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE NATIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICER OF THE NDC ON MONDAY, ISTH APRIL, 2019. “THE NATIONAL 1 ADDO GOVERNMEN EALTI INSURANCE SCHEME I$ FAST COLLAPSING UNDER THE AKUFO- INTRODUCTION Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen ot the press. On behalf of the National Demoeratie Congress, 1 thank-you for your presence wilh us here today This is our third edition of the Moment of Truth Series. These regular cr smenls afford us an epporlumily lo undertake a critical assessment of the Akufe-Addo administration in all fucets of governance, The imperative to de this assessment is to cnabls us separate hard fnets from fiction and cuphonious rhetoric from practical solutions to help Ghanaians appreciate the naked truth re ative to how the Akufo-Addo sovernmencis mismanaging the affairs of the country Ladigs and gentlemen, today's engagement “duses en the state of the National Healtit Insurance Schome under the watch of President Akufn-Addo, Contrary 1 the flowery and rosy picuure that President Akufs-Addo continues to paint at every given oppemunity about the bealth of the NHIS, the fact is thae, the NHIS is on the verze of collapse INDEBTEDNI OF THE SCHEME, Ladies end gentlemen. recently in his State of the Nation Adelress and while on a tour of the United States of America, President Akulo-Addo peddled blatant untiuth when he claimed that the NIUS is “huoyant and has come back 10 life”, The truth of the matter is that, the NELS, very known to the President, is in # deplorable state ond gasping for liquidity bieath, Curreilly, the NTIS owes service providers in all the sisteen regions of Ghana claiins covering a period of almost twelve (12) months. This has landed most health caze facilities in distress. For instance, the Daily Graphic reported on'l hursday, 28th March, 2U19 chat the Central ewional Hospital is on its knees beyuting to be paid an amount of GHg6.1 million owed tu it by the Scheme, in order to settle its indebtedness to suppliers of critical daugs and medical consumables. ‘his is just one example ef hav eur bealth facilities are being crippled as a result of the huge ind cbtedness of the NHIS to service providers Ladies and gentlemen, we have also taken note of persistent clainis by President Akufo-Addo that his government has cleared a total of GH¢1.2 Billion NHL arrears it inherited from che erstwhile Mahama gavernmenc. We wish to state without any equivoeation that, this elaim is mischievous and not borne out by the facts, After the Association of Private Clinics and uhe leadership af Government llaspials disputed this claim, one would have thought that the President will desist from pedclling this clvvious deception, However, it appears President Akufe-Addo is determined to deceive the nation ay far as this matier is concerned. Indisputable evidence contained in the 2017 NHIS Fund Allocation Formula presented to the august house of Parliament hy the Minister of Health shows that, total arrears of NEI claims stood at GH¢125.79 million asa: December 2016. This completely belics the claims of President Aluto- Addo and exposes him as a very dishonest NATIQNAL COMMUNICATION BUREAU P.O.BOX AN S825 ACCRA-NORTH, GHANAa NDC LOSS OF CONFIDENCE IN THE SCHEME Ladies and genclemen, the nose-diving forunes of the NHIS manifests itself in the continucas decline in active membership af Une scheme in the last (wo (21 years, This Tact is supported by the Fulloering statistics DECLINE IN ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP Tatte 1 YEAR ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP % OF NATIONAL COVERAGE 2016 10-786 million people 39 3017 16.432 million people 7 2018, 16 410 million people 38 Ladigs and gentlgmen, thy above statistics depict the devlining yonlidemee of Ghanaiang in the National Healthy Insutance Scheme and expose their stiails thal the scheme has been plunged inloby the Akuly-Adde government INCREASING EXPENDITURE ON COMPENSATION Ironically, while there is a clear decreasing :rend in active membership in the scheme, compensation to staff of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHTAL is increasing astronomically as shown in the teblebelaw Teebte 2 YEAR COMPENSATION PAID (IN Ge} 2016 115 milion’ 2017 132 million 2018 168 million 2019) 211.78 million Ladies and gentlemen, the above sharp increases in compensation are symptomatic of the general altide of the Abufo-Addo government when it comes <0 consumption expenditure. This administration wastes no time in expending aur scarce rescutees an themacives in the form of jobs fer the boys, at the expense ol the sullering Ghanaians who vated foe them. DECLINING RELEASES TO THE NHEFUND. NATIQNAL COMMUNICATION BUREAU P.O.BOX AN S825 ACCRA-NORTH, GHANAa NDC Ladies and gentlemen, another worrying trend we have observed is the fact that aemual government releases to the National Health Insurance Furd (NIM Furl} have declitied considetably, whilst al the same lime, goverament continues to collect more revenue in the narre of the NHIS. These facis are illustzated helow table 3 YEAR ACTUAL AMOUNT RELEASED TO NHI FUND (GHz) 2016 742.11 million 2017 660,40 million 2018 506.80 million MISAPPLICATION OF NHI FUNDS, Ladies and gentlemen, it worthy of note, that even though hest practice dictates the use of 75% to 80% of accrued funds to finance the scheme. the Akufe-Adco woverument is currently utilizing only 60.61% of NHT accrued funds for their intended purpose, This points w the misapplication of NIII funds by the Akuly-Addogovernment, and we can speak af several of such instances. For example, in 2078, about GiH€163 million of NHI funds were used to pay nursing trainee allowance, While the schems continues lo strugule. ere {hart G11E300 million has lween projected bo he spent on IC'Tand another (1 1g5 million is being devoted Lo Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in 2019. This isa complete abemation from the core objevtive of the fund The wanton misapplication of NEO funds stems largely dtom the cupping policy introduced by the Akuto-Addo government through which aver the last two years, more than One billion Ghana Cedis of NHI finds have been diverted for projects which arc unrelated to the core objects of the scheme. Also, our cheeks have also revealed thst, while the scheme remains cash strapped, Government is in the process of outsourcing claims management to a private fiem with implications of more cost to the already burdened scheme. Friends from the media, these stark realities have resulted in the dwindling fortunes of the NIIIS, hence its inability to address the crucial health needs of Ghansisns. We think that these acts of mismanagement of the NHIS must be immediately reversed to gave the scheme [rem Loual collapse, Let me state that all the above statistics are comained in the 2019 Annual Allocation formula and other documents presented by the NHIA to the Health Committee of Parliament SCANDALOUS REVELATIONS Ladies and gentlemen, we have alroady demonstrated to you enough evidence of the wanton misapplication of NHI Funds by the Akufo- Addo gavermment, whichis fist precipitating the demise of the scheme. Bu., perhaps even more: egregious are certain scandals we have uncovered, which have conspired with the above to cripple the scheme. Gur painstaking investigations have revealed that upen President Akufo-Addo assuming office, the National Healch Insurance Authority withoubany due diligerce and with mdgcent haste, translerred # whopping Seventcen Million, Five Hundeed and Ferty-Eight ‘Thousand, ‘Three-hundred and Seventy-seven Ghana Cedis, and twenty pesewas NATIONAL COMMUNICATION BUREAU P.O BOX AN 5825 ACCRA-NORTH, GHANA