Public Social Policy Efficacy Assessment: Operational Challenges of the Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana

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Maintaining the health and wealth of a nation largely depends on the state of health care and policies guaranteeing citizens access to health care. It is the policy that creates the enabling operational environment for the health institutions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of the public social policy program delivery, as well as challenges and prospects in three (3) purposefully selected districts each in the selected case study areas of the three (3) Northern regions of Ghana; The Northern Region, Upper East Region and the Upper West Region. The study employed the case study method. Interviews were conducted in communities in the selected districts in the regions using a semi-structured interview guide. The study relied on primary sources of data. Primary data were obtained through interview schedule and interview guide. The study identified reimbursement delays, widespread poverty among denizens of the study area, human resource constraints, infrastructural challenges and unethical conduct of health professionals. Others include: limited drug coverage under the scheme, logistical constraints, fraud and abuse, and delays in documents processing. The study therefore recommended among others things that, stakeholders, as part of concerted efforts to sustain the policy in the Northern, Upper East and the Upper West Region should integrate social justice, and vulnerability considerations into the policy to favour the poor and the socially marginalized.