19 State governments have adopted health insurance schemes.
The scheme is to make it easer for people to access health care facilities at affordable cost.
To the end, the concerned States are at various stages of implementing universal health coverage through establishment of their respective health insurance schemes.
However, Anambra, Delta and Lagos states have particularly made significant progress in enrollment of people on this scheme.
Health Insurance is one of the mechanisms for providing financial protection from the costs of using healthcare services, which is a key pillar of universal healthcare.
The protection it affords is extremely important as research from the World Bank and WHO showed that 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty on an annual basis due to healthcare expenses. While health insurance has been operational in Nigeria for over 15 years, the uptake has remained low.
Speaking at a virtual Leadway Assurance Media training for insurance journalists in Lagos recently, the head, Medical Services, Leadway Health, Dr. Temitope Falaiye, stated that, Nigeria spends a relatively small proportion of national income, translating to about 4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) on health against the agreed 15 per cent at the 2001 Abuja Declaration.
