{UAH} Health insurance to be compulsory, says government

Kampala. Health insurance will be mandatory for every Ugandan both in formal and informal, private and public sector, according to the proposals made by the Health ministry committee on health insurance.

Dr Francis Runumi, the commissioner for planning in the ministry, said the move is aimed at ensuring that every individual is covered by the scheme, as well as improve on financing for the health sector.
This means even individuals who subscribe to private insurance scheme will be obliged to contribute eight per cent of their wage to the national scheme just like those who are not covered by any health insurance scheme.

"For the people who prefer the private insurers, they will still contribute the eight per cent. The National Health Insurance Scheme will then remit 90 per cent to the private insurer but retain the 10 per cent as social protection to subsidise the poor," said Dr Runumi.

However, the officials behind the move are still working out a mechanism through which government can subsidise the people in the informal sector and the very poor.

Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Health minister, said Cabinet has already endorsed all proposals in the draft Bill, which will soon be tabled in Parliament.

"We have been slow on this issue but we are using our delayed implementation to our advantage to avoid mistakes that other countries have suffered in implementing the national health insurance scheme," said Dr Rugunda while speaking at the closing ceremony of the East, Central and Southern African Health Community conference in Kampala on Friday.

MPs ready for the Bill
Dr Kenneth Omona, the chairperson for the Parliamentary Health Committee, said the National Insurance Bill is the next on agenda after the HIV Bill.

"We are planning to hold public dialogues to seek people's views on the health insurance Bill. We want this like yesterday, it's been long overdue and we hope when it's finally tabled, we will have it passed by the end of the year."
However, the Bill could meet some resistance from sceptics who say the money is likely to be misused like has been the fate of most public funds.

Workers' take
Mr Emmanuel Bengaana from the National Organisation of Trade Unions said the presence of several government institutions on the board such as Health, Finance and Public Service should not be supported as this is likely to foster corruption and misuse of the funds.

But Dr Rugunda said the Bill also includes proper transparent accountability mechanism to ensure the safety of the people's money.

aayebazibwe@ug.nationmedia.com

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