Credentialed health facilities began receiving a partial pay rise under the National Health Insurance Scheme in August 2026. The National Health Insurance Authority says current service tariffs went up by 50 per cent as the first stage of a revised schedule. The rest of that schedule is meant to arrive in October. Whether it does depends on controls the Authority says it still needs against false claims.
Higher tariffs are meant to pay providers closer to the real cost of care and to reduce the pressure that has fed illegal extra charges. The Authority also says it will not release the full increase until it can better prove that claimed visits and services actually happened.
What changed in August
According to remarks by NHIA chief executive Dr Victor Asare Bampoe, reported in mid-August, the partial step followed a nationwide stakeholder review of service tariffs. The Authority presents the increase as support for provider reimbursement and for the scheme’s longer-term finances after earlier decisions that expanded the National Health Insurance Fund.
The August move is not the entire revised tariff book. Full implementation is scheduled for October 2026. Bampoe has said that timing is deliberate. The Authority is using the gap to put stronger financial checks in place, including a digital One-Time Attendance Code, often shortened to OTAC.
Why full rates are tied to attendance codes
Bampoe has linked the pause before full rates to leakage in claims. In the August reporting, he said anecdotal evidence suggested that not less than 15 per cent of claims currently paid may be ineligible, about GH¢400 million a year. He warned that putting the full tariff increase on top of those leakages could push the exposure toward nearly GH¢1 billion a year. Those figures are the Authority’s own estimates, described as resting on anecdotal evidence, not a published audit.
OTAC is the main control named in public. Members are expected to generate a code on a mobile phone before care, so the claim can be checked against an actual attendance. In August, Bampoe said the system was being piloted in the Ahafo and Western North Regions, with further regions lined up before a nationwide rollout. A mid-August Ghana News Agency report from the Upper East also described the phone-based code as confirmation that a member attended and received service.
A higher tariff on paper does not automatically mean a facility stops asking for cash at the counter. The Authority’s argument is that paying providers more only works if claims are cleaner. Until OTAC and related checks are judged ready, the full rate increase stays conditional.
October is conditional
For providers, August already changes reimbursement on the partial schedule. For members, two questions sit beside that pay rise: whether facilities still demand illegal payments for covered services, and whether generating an attendance code becomes a normal step at the clinic door.
The full October increase is not settled. The Authority has said it depends on those controls. Until then, the 50 per cent rise is the tariff change providers and members can actually count on.