Mr Maxwell Mahama, the Jaman South Municipal Manager, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has advised active members of the Scheme to report service providers who demand unauthorised fees or charges from them.

He said the Scheme did not owe any service provider and warned against extortions in the name of co-payment, adding that those engaged in the illegal practice would be prosecuted.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Drobo, the Municipal capital, Mr Mahama stressed that: ‘The NHIS does not owe providers claims reimbursement and all arrears have been paid by the National Health Insurance Authority to our cherished providers’.

‘The extortion is becoming too much because it appears now that some providers do not care about timely payments,’ he stated, regretting that ‘some have institutionalised unauthorised payments, and by law, we need to sanction them’.

Describing the NHIS as the longest sustainable government social intervention policy, he said: ‘If we ought to act, we shall act
and have no rhetoric. If we do not put our collective efforts together and cherish the NHIS as a national asset, it will collapse’.

Mr Mahama entreated the public and active members of the Scheme who were affected by co-payments, illegal charges or who fell victim to such unauthorised payments to be bold and report suspected service providers to the nearest NHIS office.

Source: Ghana News Agency