TITLE:
Challenges of Social Policy Implementation in Ghana: A Case of the National Health Insurance Scheme
AUTHORS:
Richard Osei-Boateng
KEYWORDS:
Politics, Social Policy, National Health Insurance Scheme, Implementation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.6,
June
18,
2026
ABSTRACT: In trying to meet the SDG objectives, the Government of Ghana has initiated numerous social policy programs to help bridge the poverty gap. Public policy must be properly implemented to reap benefits for citizens and its achievement is absolutely linked with the way in which it is put into practice. This paper investigated the challenges of implementing public policy programs in Ghana and their effects on policy outcomes with the basic objective to examine how implementing authorities navigate the challenges associated with the implementation of social policies using the National Health Insurance Scheme as a study. A qualitative approach was used for this study. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. Eighteen (18) participants were interviewed after purposely sampling participants from the Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana Health service and some hospitals. Activities of politicians such as manifesto promises, propaganda statements and activities, implementation in a rush, lack of capacity and resources and challenges with the ACT itself were identified as major challenges of policy implementation. The study proposes decoupling party politics from policy, amendment of the Law as well as building capacity as some ways of dealing with the challenges of policy implementation.