National health insurance fund (Uganda)

Summary

The Ugandan government plans to go ahead with mandatory health insurance for all Ugandans by 2025.

Program goals

Only two percent Ugandans currently have health insurance. This scheme plans to increase coverage.

Key program components

The National Health Insurance Fund is for all residents in Uganda. The initial plan is to cover around 2 million employed Ugandans (6% of the population) including 300,000 government workers and then transition to cover other voluntary members. The first phase of implementation will cover formal sector employees equal to six percent of the population. The premium for formal sector employees is 8 percent of the employee's salary. Employers will be responsible for paying 4 percent, and the employee will be responsible for paying the remaining 4 percent.

A recent study (2008) by WHO revealed that Ugandans spend 22 percent of their earnings on health care, and six percent of the poorest who have the highest number of health bills have to sell their assets to meet medical bills. The National Social Health Insurance Scheme was expected to take off in July 2007, but was tabled before the Parliament of Uganda in March 2009. The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) failed to make it to through the parliament because of resistance from employers, trade unions and worker representatives. They were skeptical about the government’s ability to guarantee efficient service delivery given the poor state of health facilities in the country.