The CEO of Premier Health Insurance Mr Percy Asare Ansah has expressed concern about the alarming increase in lifestyle diseases, especially in the country’s youth.
According to him, at least 12% of clients reported cases of diabetes and hypertension to the various health facilities, a rate he believed was worrying.
Speaking at the Premier Health Insurance 10th Anniversary thanksgiving, awards and cocktail event held in Accra, Mr Ansah noted the cost involved in fighting these lifestyle diseases are burdensome not just to the individuals involved but the entire economy as well.
He therefore challenged clients, especially those with sedentary lifestyles, to adopt healthier approach to life including walking and exercising daily.
Apart from these lifestyle diseases, Mr Ansah said the scheme recorded 146,483 malaria cases, 139,732 cases of Upper Respiratory tract infection, at least one delivery per day, with hospital or clinic visits inching over 537,000 in the last five years alone.
Democratizing health care
Mr Ansah said the visits alone by clients are a testament of the company’s mission to democratize health insurance and to make “healthcare affordable and accessible to help people live longer, joyful and healthier lives.”
“Apart from the corporate products, which is common in the industry, we have the Micro Health Insurance product which targets government sector workers. With an affordable premium per person paid monthly, we provide a very comprehensive healthcare for the principal member and their dependents,” he stated.
On the 10th year of their anniversary, Mr Ansah was proud to announce a new deal with the Ghana Medical Association which will make all doctors across the country who are members of the Association to access free healthcare after paying competitive annual premiums.
In all, over 95,000 lives on all packages are currently on the scheme, Mr Ansah stated.
Standard tariff regime
While applauding the National Health Insurance Authority, (NHIA) for their guidance and supervision over the years, Mr Ansah also called on them to ensure high standards of medical service delivery the industry.
He also appealed to the (NHIA), regulators of the health insurance sector, to set standard tariff regime to improve performance in the sector.
He said the current trend of allowing the invisible hands of demand and supply to determine prices will further put the virgin private health insurance industry out of gear
Even though the health service providers are doing a great job, Mr Ansah was quick to point out cases of fraud and unprofessional conduct by some of them.
“We [must] ensure that the few greedy ones who are into polypharmacy, that is prescribing two medicines performing the same function, multiple lab tests to increase their revenue per attendance, higher margins on medicines are all flushed out of the system to sanitize the operating environment for growth in the industry,” he prayed.
The Board
The Board Chair of Premier Health Insurance Mr Samuel Abbey said celebrating 10 years in the life of a company, particularly a health insurance company, is a huge achievement worthy of celebration, adding, “it is also an opportunity to recollect memories and cherish them.”
He congratulated Mr Percy Asare Ansah and Mr Harold Awuah Darko [both of whom started the Premier journey] for their hard work, diligence and good governance practices all of which have steered the company this far.
This diligence has seen the company and its CEO pick up several awards including Best Insurance Company 2017, CEO of the year in 2017, Best Insurance Brand 2017 and 2018, Best Individual Healthcare Provider as well as the Best CSR Insurance Company 2018.
He also applauded the workers, clients and all stakeholders, without whom he said Premier Health Insurance would not have come this far.
Awards Night
The thanksgiving event was also an opportunity to reward long serving workers, clients and stakeholders. Mr Harold Awuah Darko was presented with the Special Award for his pioneering role in the establishment of Premier Health Insurance.
The Longest service corporate health plan went to Maritime Transport Ghana Ltd. The 37 Military Hospital, Robert and Sons, Kek were presented with Hospital Services provider, Optical Service Provider, Brokerage Company respectively.
The Sales branch of the Micro health plan went to the Kumasi branch office. Justice Ayim Asare was also presented with longest serving employee having been with the company for ten years.