Don Seeks Cheap Health Insurance Scheme In Lagos
By Edet Udoh
Lagos State government has been urged to make its health insurance scheme affordable and easily accessible to be impactful and save lives of residents of the State.
The scheme started in 2007 as a Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS) and was proposed as an integral part of the broader State Health Insurance Framework for social health protection coverage for the poor, informal sector population as well as underserved communities. Under this arrangement, the scheme is to be scaled up to every local government in the State in order to create the stimulus for demand for health insurance all across the State.
Senior Lecturer, Mass Communication Department, Covenant University, Dr. Oscar Odiboh, said Healthcare Insurance is the area that government of Lagos State can really make impact on the life of the people.
“I know the population of Lagos is quite high; facilities are begging for addition giving the population of the state, but Healthcare Insurance is the area that government can impact on the people. Insurance, not in terms of giving money to the people, but for people to have access to a particular amount of medicare that they can go to any hospital and obtain medicare.”
Continuing, “For instance, if government says every citizen of the state is entitled to N10,000 worth of medicare per month, what he need to do is to register with the hospital and I think they are doing something in this area but I implore the government to ensure it is completed. The government should ensure that with the Healthcare Insurance in place, citizen can go to any hospital closest to him or her whether private or public and get healthcare service worth that amount of money without paying a dime from his or her pocket. This kind of thing should be arranged where you can go to any hospital and get quick, adequate and standardized medical attention because health is wealth.”
The scheme launched by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on December 18, 2018 targeted Lagos State workers, the informal sector workers and other residents of the state.
It offers a package of prepaid healthcare services for enrolled members of the community. The projected outcome of the intervention is the conversion of the current prevalent out-of-pocket payments for healthcare into prepayments which is more progressive and equitable.
Comments are closed.