National Health Insurance Agents Association Inaugurated in Accra

The National Health Insurance Agents Association was, last Friday, inaugurated and a nine-member Executive, with Mr Ebenezer Ashie Hodgson as Chairman, sworn into office in Accra.

The aim of the Association is to complement and supplement the efforts of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and to help government bring health insurance to the doorsteps of all Ghanaians.

In an address, the General Secretary of the Association, Mr Alfred Ashong, on behalf of the Association, appealed to the NHIA to increase the 10% commission it paid to its agents, in view of the rising cost of living in the country.

Mr Ashong also expressed concern about the lack of recognition for Health Insurance Agents in the National Health Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852).

In an address, Mrs Rose Kwei, Head of the Informal Economy Desk of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), urged the Association to formalise its relationship with the Trades Union Congress and to work towards the development of the informal sector.

Mrs Kwei noted that out of the 13 million workers in Ghana, nine million were in the informal economy.

She said the informal sector played a key role in the economy, for which reason, the Council for Informal Workers Association (CIWA) had been established to make the informal sector part of the TUC structures, i.e., the family of workers.

In his closing remarks, Dr Yaw Baah, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC and Chairman for the occasion, pledged the support of the TUC for the Health Insurance Agents Association by way of applying for a bargaining certificate for them.

The informal economy is the part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any Gross National Product (GNP).

In Ghana, about 88 % of the workforce is employed in the informal sector and, therefore, earns less money, has irregular income and does not have access to basic protections and services of the state. Informal businesses also lack the potential for growth, trapping employees in menial jobs indefinitely.

On the other hand, the informal sector can allow a large proportion of the population to escape extreme poverty and earn an income that is satisfactory for survival, for which reason most people sometimes do not see the advantages of formalising their businesses or look for a job in the formal sector.


Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)