Finance clears health insurance Bill
Keith Muhakanizi, the Secretary to the Treasury says everything was done properly and that he will prove it with available documents
What you need to know:
- As far as revenue collection is concerned, the government will make one per cent contribution for the civil servants, who will contribute four per cent, whereas pensioners will contribute one per cent of their monthly pension payment.
Kampala. The Ministry of Finance has finally issued a certificate of finance implication to the long-awaited Health Insurance Bill, which will be first discussed by Cabinet before being re-tabled in Parliament.
The certificate and letter communicating the nod to the Health ministry to proceed with the National Health Insurance (NHI) BIll 2012, was issued by Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Secretary to Treasury on April 5.
“This ministry has reviewed the Bill, the costing options, as well as the assumptions submitted as required under Section 76 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 and issued the attached clearance of the Bill to enable its presentation and discussion by Parliament,” Mr Muhakanizi indicated.
However, Mr Muhakanizi’s letter recommended that indigents (poor people who earn less than two dollars a day) should also contribute towards the revenue pool to finance the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“It has been noted that the indigents have not been included under the revenue sources for the NHIS. Therefore, it is recommended that the indigents should contribute a minimum amount for purposes of ownership and accountability of the NHIS,” Mr Muhakanizi stated but didn’t specify how much indigents should contribute.
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance had declined to grant the certificate of clearance to the Bill on grounds that cost implications were very high compared to the country’s resource envelope.
The Permanent Secretary at the Health ministry, Dr Diana Atwine, on Friday welcomed the development, saying the absence of the certificate had held back the Health Insurance Scheme.
Once passed into law by Parliament, the legislation will usher in a national health insurance scheme to ensure accessible, affordable, acceptable and quality healthcare services to citizens.
Revenue
As far as revenue collection is concerned, the government will make one per cent contribution for the civil servants, who will contribute four per cent, whereas pensioners will contribute one per cent of their monthly pension payment. For the private sector, employers will contribute one per cent, whereas employees will contribute four per cent on their annual wage.
