Federal Government has said all Nigerian employers and employees would be mandated to make contributions of 15 per of basic salary to the new National
Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) scheme.
Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN), which made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, said it has over the years clamoured for implementation of a holistic law that seeks to make health insurance mandatory in Nigeria and has worked extensively with the defunct NHIS, several state schemes and the organized private sector, in driving awareness for health insurance across the country for the last 30 years.
“HMCAN acknowledges the clarity provided by the NHIA Act 2022 which now provides mandatory health insurance across the country and the clearly defined roles of HMOs in the provision of health insurance in addition to supporting the social schemes for federal MDAs and state social schemes.
“HMCAN supports the NHIA Act’s focus to promote, regulate and integrate health
insurance schemes across the country and to harness private sector participation.
“Without prejudice to the anticipated Operational Guidelines to be issued by the
NHIA, HMCAN wishes to provide the following clarifications for the general public
and all stakeholders in respect of the provisions of the NHIA Act.
“The NHIA as an Authority is vested with the regulatory responsibility for all participants under the health insurance arrangement including state health insurance agencies, healthcare providers, HMOs, TPAs and even banks and insurance companies that wish to participate in the health insurance sector
“The NHIA is responsible for managing the Federal Public Service Scheme which had always been managed by the erstwhile NHIS. The NHIA may choose to appoint HMOs (as TPAs) or TPAs to administer the scheme for them or may choose to create an in-house team to do so.
“Only the State Health Insurance Agencies are authorized to establish Basic Health Care packages in the states.”