KAMPALA – Cabinet on Monday approved the National Health Insurance Scheme Bill, 2019 and National Payment Systems Bill, 2019.
The objectives of the insurance Bill are to facilitate the provision of accessible, affordable acceptable and quality healthcare services to citizens irrespective of their age, economic, health and social status; and to develop health insurance as a complementary mechanism of healthcare financing and ensure efficiency in healthcare services.
The other objectives are to ensure that residents have access to quality healthcare services which is equitable and affordable, to regulate the cost of healthcare services for the beneficiaries and ensure equitable distribution of costs among the different income groups and To maintain high standard of healthcare delivery services under the scheme.
The Bill also seeks to improve and harness private sector participation in the provision of healthcare services. The scheme will be implemented in an integrated approach through social, private community-based health insurance schemes;
It also seeks to mobilize funds to subsidize the cost of provision of healthcare services to the population and the indigents in particular; and to promote social protection by protecting households from catastrophic health expenditures (impoverishing payments incurred when they access health services).
Cabinet also approved the National Payment Systems Bill, 2019. The overall objective of the Bill is to ensure safe and efficient payment system in Uganda and the expected benefits of the proposed National Payment Systems law include:
Prevention of fraud in the entire payments system in Uganda; Reducing the cost of doing business; Reducing systemic risk to prevent financial system collapse and Prevention of data theft and misuse which often lead to painful disclosures, adverse publicity and fines.
It is also aimed at Prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing; and
To foster competition and prevent monopolistic practices and challenges when innovations grow into complex systems and become too complicated to regulate.
