Coverage under Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has increased from 57 per cent to about 70 per cent in less than two years, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has said.

He attributed the increase to measures aimed at strengthening the scheme’s finances, including the uncapping of the National Health Insurance Levy. Mr Akandoh said the additional resources had improved the NHIS’s ability to meet its obligations to healthcare providers.

“We’re strengthening what we have come to meet. We took the NHIS from 57%; as I speak to you now, it’s about 70%. In a matter of less than two years,” he said at the Ministry of Health’s Sector Update Engagement in Accra on Wednesday, October 7.

The Minister said funding for the scheme had risen from about GH¢6.5 billion in 2024 to GH¢9.8 billion in 2025, allowing government to increase payments to healthcare providers by an average of 50 per cent.

He said the higher payments were intended to reduce delays in settling claims owed to healthcare facilities and improve their capacity to continue providing services to NHIS beneficiaries.

Mr Akandoh maintained that improving the scheme’s financial position and ensuring timely reimbursement to service providers were critical to sustaining access to healthcare and reducing financial pressure on beneficiaries.