A CRITICAL REVIEW ON GHANA’S HEALTH INSURANCE POLICY part 2

4263 WORDS

 Ghana is one of the first African countries to aim for universal coverage (Skolnik, 2016).  The National Health Insurance System was developed in 2013 as an attempt to address the financial barriers for Ghanaians to access health care services (Ministry of Health, 2004; Skolnik, 2016).  The National Health Insurance Policy (NHIP) was created in 2004 to make the National Health Insurance System happen (Ministry of Health, 2014).  This policy did not quite accomplish what it was set out to do.  This critical analysis will discuss why NHIP was created, its overall effectiveness, and explore systemic barriers it has created that causes Ghanaians not to be able to access health care services fully.  The systemic barriers that will be discussed are accessibility and culture.  Future implications for each systemic barrier will also be discussed.

 Thesis statement: This critical analysis will analysis the NHIP, explain its effectiveness and explore systemic barriers it has created towards accessing health services.  Accessibility and culture barriers are systemic barriers that will be discussed.    

Before National Health Insurance Policy

Ghana is a lower middle-income country that has a checkered history in financing health care (Ministry of Health, 2004; Skolnik, 2016).When Ghana was under colonial rule, health care was mostly catered to colonials and their workers (Mcintyre et al., 2008).When Ghana became indepen