Lawmakers Wade Into Alleged Mismanagement, Irregularities At NHIA  

House of Representatives has resolved to investigate alleged mismanagement of funds and other irregularities in the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The resolution which followed the adoption of a motion moved by Hon Esosa Iyawe from Edo State at plenary was aimed at making relevant interventions to ensure effective implementation of the National Health Insurance Policy.

Iyawe said the National Health Insurance Authority, formerly known as the National Health Insurance Scheme, was established in 1999 to ensure the effective implementation of the National Health Insurance Policy and address the gaps in getting affordable treatment as well as ensuring universal access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians.

He noted that the federal government has, over the years, driven the Health Insurance Policy through budgetary allocation under the management of the National Health Insurance Authority and some Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs);

The lawmaker explained that HMOs were engaged and funded by the federal government to play an intermediary role in the implementation of the health insurance scheme by providing a wide range of medical services for enrollees.

He expressed concern that despite the huge budgetary allocations, records have shown that only a negligible 3% of persons in the formal sector have access to health insurance, leaving over 170 million Nigerians without health insurance.

Iyawe said the programme has been fraught with poor service delivery by the HMOs as well as low-quality services on the part of the healthcare service providers, as evidenced by the high level of dissatisfaction amongst enrollees who are thus discouraged from recommending the scheme to potential subscribers.

Iyawe expressed worry that 25 years after the programme commenced, reports have shown that, out of a population of about 200 million, only about four million Nigerians are covered under the scheme, which is contrary to the claim by the authority that over 10 million Nigerians are currently enrolled in the programme.

He was equally worried that the implementation of the scheme had been mired with corruption, lack of transparency and accountability, irregularities among HMOs and ill-treatment of enrollees by healthcare providers. The House mandated the committee to investigate the matter.