Premier Health Insurance Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Percy Asare Ansah, has appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), regulators of the health insurance sector, to set standard tariff regime to improve performance in the sector.
He said the current trend of allowing the invisible hands of demand and supply to determine prices will further put the virgin private health insurance industry out of gear.
While being indebted to the NHIA for their guidance and supervision over the years, Mr Ansah on the occasion of the Premier Health Insurance’s 10th Anniversary thanksgiving, awards and cocktail event held in Accra, also called on the NHIA to ensure high standards on the part of medical service delivery in the industry.
Mr Ansah also applauded the health service providers for their contribution towards an improved healthcare delivery but was quick to point out cases of fraud and unprofessional conduct by some of them.
“We [must] ensure that the few greedy ones who are into polypharmacy, that is prescribing two medicines performing the same function, multiple lab tests to increase their revenue per attendance, higher margins on medicines are all flushed out of the system to sanitize the operating environment for growth in the industry,”
While his team of auditors is on the field to ensure that members are billed with the right figures, Mr Ansah also hinted at steps being taken to roll out the right technology in the health insurance operations.
“We shall employ technology in our operations in our expansion projects in future,” he said, adding, the RX Claims system was deployed about three years ago but to date, some service providers have refused the use of this claims software.
This, he said, must attract the attention of the regulator in order to rein in the service providers whose conduct continues to tarnish the image of the industry.
Democratizing health care
Taking the guests through the 10-year journey of the Premier Health Insurance, Mr Ansah said the company was on a mission to democratize health insurance and to make “healthcare affordable and accessible to help people live longer joyful and healthier lives.”
He said the mission has been expressed through the wide range of health products crafted to meet the pockets and health needs of clients.
“Apart from the corporate products, which is common in the industry, we have the Micro Health Insurance product which targets government sector workers. With an affordable premium per person paid monthly, we provide a very comprehensive healthcare for the principal member and their dependents,” he stated.
On the 10th year of their anniversary, Mr Ansah was proud to announce a new deal with the Ghana Medical Association which will make all doctors across the country who are members of the Association to access free healthcare after paying competitive annual premiums.
In all, over 95,000 lives on all packages are currently on the scheme, Mr Ansah stated.
Lifestyle Diseases
The Premier Health Insurance CEO also raised concerns about the increase in lifestyle diseases to the younger Ghanaian generation. According to him, at least 12% of clients reported cases of diabetes and hypertension to the various health facilities, a rate he described as alarming.
He challenged clients, especially those with sedentary lifestyles, to adopt a healthier approach to life including walking and exercising daily.
The Board Chair of Premier Health Insurance, Samuel Abbey, said celebrating 10 years in the life of a company, particularly a health insurance company, is a huge achievement worthy of celebration, adding, “it is also an opportunity to recollect memories and cherish them.”
He congratulated Mr Ansah and Mr Harold Awuah Darko [both of who started the Premier journey] for their hard work, diligence and good governance practices all of which have steered the company this far.
He also applauded the workers, clients and all stakeholders, without whom he said Premier Health Insurance would not have come this far.
Awards Night
The thanksgiving event was also an opportunity to reward longest-serving workers, clients and stakeholders. Mr Darko was presented with the Special Award for his pioneering role in the establishment of Premier Health Insurance.
The Longest service corporate health plan went to Maritime Transport Ghana Ltd. The 37 Military Hospital, Robert and Sons, Kek were presented with Hospital Services provider, Optical Service Provider, Brokerage Company respectively.
The Sales branch of the Micro health plan went to the Kumasi branch office. Justice Ayim Asare was also presented with the longest-serving employee award having been with the company for 10 years.