The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has urged individuals, families and private organizations to enroll in the scheme to access quality and affordable healthcare services
Mrs Aileen Blama, its coordinator in Plateau, made the call in an interview with journalists on Tuesday in Jos.
Blama stated that the agency had developed a special program known as “Group, Individual, Family, Social Health Insurance Program (GIFSHIP)” for individuals and groups to access quality health care.
“I am calling on individuals, families and groups to enroll in our healthcare scheme on the platform of GIFSHIP program to be able to access quality healthcare and protect themselves from unexpected high medical costs.
“The importance of healthcare insurance cannot be overemphasized to the individual as it gives cover against illnesses, gives financial security, reduces poverty rate increases economic, health and educational growth, among others,” she said.
Blama stated that although the establishment of the health insurance authority in Nigeria was for the benefit of all Nigerians, only a few are currently covered in the scheme
She attributed the low coverage of the scheme to poverty, lack of adequate information of health insurance benefits, religious beliefs and scarcity of funding from government, among others.
She stated that in a bid to ensure that all Nigerians were covered, the GIFSHIP program and other initiatives were developed to attain universal health coverage.
The coordinator explained that the scope of coverage shall be individuals, family members, individuals in a group or in an organization employing less than 10 employees.
“For the individual subscriber, the contribution rate is N45,000 per annum; subscriber may add two direct dependents.
“A family will contribute N60,000 for four biological related persons, each extra dependent of a family will be enrolled at N15,000.
“Ten persons shall be the minimum number of persons in a group, except small scale enterprises with less than 10 employees. Group enrolment is at a contribution rate of N15,000 per person per annum.
“These rates are subject to changes from time to time by the NHIA,” she explained
Blama added that a waiting period of 90 days was required by contributors to enable the scheme conclude administrative processes and six months for an enrollee to be eligible for surgical procedures and other high cost procedures.
She said that the authority in Plateau state has enrolled more than 120,000 persons in more than 100 public and private hospitals across the state, a number she said was inadequate.
Blama, thereby, called on “individuals who are not covered in the formal sector to use the GIFSHIP program to get enrolled”.
