Over 80% of Nigerians still can’t access health insurance

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Although health financing dates back to 1962 in Nigeria, only 17 percent of the country’s population has health insurance coverage, a survey conducted by NOI Polls has revealed.

The chief executive officer, NOI Polls legal department, Dr Chike Nwangwu, stated this in Abuja at the health financing policy dialogue themed, ‘Accelerating the Implementation of the NHIA Act to improve Health Insurance Coverage in Nigeria’, organised by the Nigeria Health Watch, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

Dr Nwangwu said that health insurance remains a mirage because 80 percent of Nigerians still pay out of pocket for healthcare services, irrespective of the health care facilities they visit, even though the goal of health insurance is to ensure universal coverage and access to adequate and affordable healthcare for all in the country.

He quoted the poll indicating a high utilisation of public hospitals across the country as disclosed by 58 percent of respondents, who stated that they visited public hospitals when ill; 36 percent utilize private healthcare facilities and five percent utilise both the public and private health care facilities.

“There is need for a definite approach towards mass enrolment of Nigerians as well as intensive sensitization as almost half of adult Nigerians (49 percent) disclosed that they are not aware of the National Health Insurance Scheme and 57 percent of unenrolled say they are willing to pay for health insurance,” he said.

The director-general of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Professor Mohammed Sambo, however, said that Nigeria needs to get its health finance right to be able to drive its healthcare system, including governance, human resource for health, quality healthcare services, access to medicines, and reliable information.

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According to him, “the only way out of this is to adopt the concept of prioritisation and innovative financing. In terms of prioritisation, the government will have to put health insurance at the topmost level of the agenda ahead of competing inter-sectoral sector demands to mobilise adequate resources to meet the needs and aspirations of the people.”

He added also that the quality of any discussion on healthcare financing is incomplete without considering the shape and development of a country, as well as the social determinants of health such as access to potable water and the level of education, especially of the girl child.

Also, the director-general of the Budget Office, Professor Ben Akabueze, stated that Nigeria must find innovative financing for health insurance provision through Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), health insurance levy, budgetary allocations, accruals from the VGF from NHIA investments, donations, grants, gifts, etc., and private sector-focused innovative financing.

Earlier, the managing director, Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu, said the government had a critical role to play in accelerating the NHIA Act implementation by providing adequate funding, strengthening governance structures and creating an enabling environment for the scheme to thrive.