NEW HEALTH INSURANCE ID CARD OUT SOON (PAGE 35, MIRROR)

From Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Bechem

A new national membership identity card (ID), produced by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for all new and old members of the district, municipal, sub-metropolitan and metropolitan mutual health insurance schemes, has been launched at Bechem, the capital of the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region, as a pilot project.
The decision by the NHIA to phase out the old ID cards and replace them with new ones forms part of the uniform technology platform to enable members to access health services with less difficulty.
Besides, coming out with a universal membership card which can be used anywhere in the country, members will also be given health facility attendance booklet that could be used throughout the year.
The booklet will also replace the three health facility attendance card issued to members upon registration. The booklet will also enable members with chronic diseases who visit the facilities frequently to have an up-to-date record of their medical history.
The new card is designed like a credit card and is easy to be carried in one’s pocket, purse or bag and has special features such as the NHIS logo and the inscription, “Republic of Ghana National Health Insurance Membership Card.”
Speaking at the launching ceremony, the Public Affairs Manager of NHIA, Alhaji Ibrahim Wiredu, disclosed that within three years of actual implementation of the scheme, the country has attained 50 per cent coverage.
He said, as at the end of 2007, 145 mutual health schemes were implementing the programme, and that each scheme provided its members with its own ID cards and health facility attendance cards which were valid only within the district that the scheme operated.
That situation, he explained, made it very difficult for members to access health care outside their schemes, and noted that portability was possible only by special arrangements between the schemes and the providers, while members seeking health care outside their schemes had to obtain introductory letters from their schemes.