The number of vulnerable households eligible for support by the government to the community-based health insurance scheme (CBHI) – commonly known as Mutuelle de Santé – was slashed by 74.4 per cent from 450,000 to 115,000 starting with the current fiscal year.

This is according to data that the Director General of Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA), Claudine Marie Solange Nyinawagaga, has provided to The New Times.

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The data imply that 335,000 households are no longer entitled to CBHI support from the government. Nyinawagaga said the decision started being implemented in the current fiscal year which began on July 1.

She indicated that the decision was made because some households benefited from government interventions and were able to escape poverty, while others continued to receive government support that enabled them to afford the necessary health insurance contribution.

She said that the move is intended to help residents become self-reliant, as they realised that there was a significant number of people who could afford to contribute to Mutuelle de Santé. According to her, when the government covers the contribution for these individuals, they often misuse their money by spending it on beer.

Over the last two years, under Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), Nyinawagaga said, the government provided varied support, with a view to lift people out of poverty. This includes direct support – in the form of cash handouts to vulnerable people (elderly) – on wage public works, livestock and low-interest loans (loans charged at 2 per cent annually) that enable the beneficiaries to run income-generating projects.

VUP is an integrated local development programme to accelerate poverty eradication, rural growth, and social protection.

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"What was observed is that when you support a person with a job, an income-generating project, and livestock, and then you pay Mutuelle de Santé contribution on their behalf, sometimes you are not helping them to make progress in their mindset,” Nyinawagaga said.

"It does not mean that we have forsaken residents, but rather, some managed to get rid of poverty, while others are in initiatives meant to lift them out of poverty, including employment under VUP, small projects, or livestock.”

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The Executive Secretary of Rwanda Development Organization (RDO), Eugene Rwibasira, told The New Times that reducing by almost 75 per cent – in two years – the number of vulnerable households who benefit from government’s contribution to Mutuelle de Santé, implies cutting poverty by the same rate, which could even be hardly achieved in a 10-year period.

RDO is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) which intends to support initiatives of Rwandans, including the vulnerable, in social and economic development.

Rwibasira said the implementation of the government’s decision should be done carefully to avoid a situation where some residents might not be able to access healthcare because they cannot afford it.

"Instead of completely stopping health insurance support to the residents, you can gradually reduce the amount you have been paying on their behalf,” he said, pointing out that healthcare is a basic need for the resident.

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Under CBHI, the government pays Rwf3,000 as a contribution for each member of a vulnerable household, and Nyinawagaga said the total amount varies depending on the number of family members.