NHIS resolves to decentralize the operation of health insurance in the country

The National Health Insurance Scheme will decentralize health insurance to the state level.

To deepen the penetration of health insurance in the country, as well and take the prospects of universal health coverage forward for Nigeria, The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is intensifying its resolve to decentralize the operation of health insurance in the country.

The NHIS is talking too state governors across the country to secure their understanding and cooperation regarding their roles in the new order. NHIS aims to make Kaduna its first target.

The NHIS has developed the State Supported Social Health Insurance Programme (SSHIP), targeted at increasing health access for every citizen of Nigeria. SSHIP will give the state the necessary autonomy to set up their own health insurance agency that will provide access to health care through pooling of financial resources. SSHIP has a blueprint that each state can adapt to its peculiarities and a legal framework for the operation of the programme, where every participant will know their role leading to a seamless operation of the programme.

Every participating state will have a sizable bulk of its contributions into the programme channeled back into the state healthcare system.

The NHIS will match up funds the state puts into the programme with resources from the National Health Act, so that the state generates sufficient capacity to deliver an effective health insurance programme on a sustainable basis.

There is a need for each state government to, as a matter of urgency, initiate the process of enacting an appropriate law that expressly makes health insurance compulsory in the state, while also guaranteeing the sustenance of the programme in the state.

This is a very sensible way of bringing in universal healthcare, and the first step in reducing the drain on currency from medical tourism to India.