The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has threatened to withhold NHIS licenses of health facilities charging illegal fees from NHIS beneficiaries.

The Authority said some facilities charge fees which are not approved by the NHIA.

This comes after several reports that some facilities take extra charges from NHIA clients for the treatment of conditions covered by the scheme.

But Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Bernard Okoe Boye said from January 2023, such facilities will be sanctioned.

“You might hear that some facilities either have been called to the authority to account for their behaviour or worst-case scenario, they might be de-credentialed meaning we will take away their status to see people with a health insurance card.

“I know some facilities will pray they don’t get there because I know that 80 percent of all Internally Generated Funds of all hospitals in Ghana come from National Health Insurance,” Dr Oko Boye said.

The NHIA, in May 2021 said it was on a manhunt for credentialed service providers who were demanding extra money (out-of-pocket payments) for medical services covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

In collaboration with law enforcement agencies, the Authority said it was hastening its investigations into widespread cases of extortion to punish the offenders.