A Draft Bill on Health Insurance Scheme is being debated by the Ugandan Parliament. It stipulates that all Ugandans aged 18 and above will have to enrol and pay premium to the proposed national health Insurance Scheme.
For those below 18 and are dependents, their parents or guardians will have to pay for them. Premium for employees in the formal sector will be based on income bands.
MPs are hoping the Bill will help solve the country’s heavy reliance on out-of-pocket payments to settle healthcare bills.
They say it is escalating poverty in the country because some people are forced to sell their homes to pay for healthcare.
Advocacy Action – Does your country have a national health insurance scheme? If not, could the principles laid out in the Ugandan draft bill be applied where you are? Is there a link between poverty and ill health due to the unaffordability of health care and or private insurance?