If you are Ugandan and haven't heard about the National Health Insurance Scheme or simply put, the compulsory health insurance, l wouldn't blame you. Who still follows this country's shenanigans?
But well, our "great" country don't ask me why the sarcasm, we all know it, is tabling the NHIS to be passed and this will have every Ugandan receiving medical services for free! That sounds really great, doesn't it?
Also, don't forget that this will be accessed in all sectors be it the private sector or the government.
You will have a right to walk into Case Clinic and they will be on the floor to cater to all your needs!
Envision that. Really feels magical. It will put an end to the cries you make when you just buy painkillers from the store for your recurring headache because you don't have the money to go for a body checkup, been there.
You might be now asking "how much will we have to pay for this royal treatment," we all know our country is not that generous.
Don't get me started on our country's corruption. Was doing a paper about corruption in Uganda and my oh my, l think l will forever be traumatized!
How the National Health Insurance Scheme works/will work.
Every citizen will have to contribute to their insurance plan, hence the name "compulsory insurance".
Whether you are 90 years old, or 2 years, as long you receive medical services in Uganda, you will have an account where you deposit your share for the insurance.
- Formal workers or what we call taxpayers will contribute 4% of their salary and their employers will add 1% for them. That makes it a total of 5% contributed by the taxpayers.
- Non-formal workers the nekolela jaange will have to pay an annual amount of shs100,000.
Now that we have established how much it will cost us, how will this money be collected?
That, my friend, is an issue the people fronting the bill haven't even figured out because they know how corrupt they are!
Read more about the bill on our news website, l hope you're subscribed.
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| Prime Minister Robina Nabbanja during the first tabling of the bill |
Personal opinion about the Insurance Scheme.
Personally, l commend the country for even getting the guts to borrow a leaf from our neighboring countries who are said to have adopted the scheme. I really do not know how it works for them though.
As a Ugandan citizen who has evidenced the poor health services the low-income earners are subjected to, this would be a huge step up for the country.
But will this money really be collected and not eaten by the collectors?
That is one of my biggest worries, to be honest.
Considering it's a small amount, sums can easily be neglected and the taxpayers will again have to carry the burden of the entire country on their shoulders.
Don't get me wrong, l love my country but it is what it is.
I also feel like this should be in the vision 2040 or even 50. The amount of time Uganda gets to round up its citizens is quite underestimated.
We all saw the covid-19 relief food, masks, and what-not. Where l was staying by then, l didn't see anyone get even a mask! Oh and we were in Uganda, to be clear.
You telling me you will send village Insurance collectors to get 100,000 from peasants could take 5 years on its own. Then let's move on to printing insurance cards after collecting the money, let's say we are now in a fintech Uganda and that will take us just 2 years.
As we speak we are already in 2029. Also, don't forget that some people have never even got National IDs so let's add in an allowance of like 2 years.
It's 2031 and we are still figuring out how to compensate the insurance payers who died. Then boom! Election campaigns and massacres put a halt to the program.
I could be overthinking it maybe.
If you invited me to the advisory committee now, my advice would be for us to first enforce compulsory insurance for all employees. Be it government or private employees.
As long as the company is registered, let it pay health insurance for its employees. This is the best method we can collect that money and with time self employers will have to pay for their insurance and we move on to the elderly.
Let's not bite what we can't chew. The leaders themselves know this will be hard to achieve but they still go in head-on.
Once we establish what we can and can't achieve, then we will be able to talk about compulsory health insurance.
For the time being, let's keep flying our officials abroad for "failed" treatment as our government hospitals continue operating under trees.
For God and My Country.
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| This is me after waiting for over 5hrs just to talk to the doctor |
