Ignorance of health insurance advantages is proving too costly for Nigerians who are missing out on the advantages of health insurance for their healthcare needs.
“The awareness is not enough and also there is a traditional belief that health should be free, but health cannot be free,” Umar Oluwole Sanda, national president, Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria (HCPAN), told BusinessDay
Health insurance is a special type of insurance that covers payment for medical and surgical expenses incurred by the insured. It reduces out-of-pocket expenditure for the poor, enabling them to enjoy medical treatment at a low rate and without worrying for ways of raising huge funds.
“The political will is not there too. It is the political will that makes health insurance schemes compulsory for everybody, which if you are not enrolled you will be penalised for that,” Sanda said.
Apart from other categories of healthcare providers, Nigeria has health management organisations (HMOs) such as Hygeia, Clearline International, Premium Health, Mediplan Healthcare, and Integrated Healthcare, among others, who provide healthcare insurance services for Nigerians, especially for the employed class.
Many states in Nigeria are yet to key into the scheme.
In Ghana, the government levies a 2.5 percent Health Insurance Levy on selected goods and services, which is put into a National Health Insurance Fund to subsidise fully paid contributions to the District Health Insurance Schemes. In Japan, workers who do not register early can be charged for up to two years of back payments.
“With political will, the parliament can come in and make a law on it. If the Lagos State law, for instance, says health insurance is compulsory for all citizens in the state, you know if you are not in the scheme you are disobeying the law,” Sanda said, suggesting that the best way to achieve or cover most Nigerians was by the use of mobile phones and social networks such as Facebook, Whatsapp, BBM, and Twitter, among others
Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic capital, will start its health insurance scheme in 2017, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said on November 21. Experts say the state’s readiness could spur others to embrace this programme, which could support the poor and improve access to medicines. The state plans to spend N57.29 billion on health in 2017, which also includes the implementation of Medical Health Insurance Scheme and e-Health programme.
Kolawole Owoka, chairman, Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN), said the health insurance scheme would be different from that of the Federal Government, exclusively for federal civil servants.
“That is the awareness they want to create in the state and they want to start with everybody, not just the civil servants. It is a good thing, we have been hoping that they will do,” Owoka said.
“The introduction of the health insurance scheme means that they are already keying into what the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Universal Health Coverage, where everybody can get access to health,” he said.
Lagos State government wants everybody in the state to be aware that health insurance is for the poor and is meant to help the poor, he added, saying the state would be deducting certain percentages of workers’ salaries for the programme.
Credit: businessdayonline