National Health Insurance Enrollment Rises To 18.7m

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has reported a surge in enrollment in Nigeria’s National Health Insurance Scheme, reaching 18.7 million. Analysts have attributed the increase to rising medical costs as a result of inflationary pressures and forex crisis, prompting more Nigerians to seek affordable healthcare options.

Available data indicated that total enrolment rates for health insurance at the national and state levels have gone up significantly over the past year.

From the low base of an estimated 16 million enrolment into various schemes across the country in Q4 2023, total national enrolment now stands at about 18.7 million.This translates to an increase of about 11 per cent in less than one year.

Speaking on the development, the National Health Insurance Authority said this was an indication that its ongoing efforts and initiatives of various state government institutions working in the health insurance space were yielding results.

This enrolment figure has also already surpassed the presidential target for the year by eight per cent, demonstrating its capability of meeting and exceeding the 2027 target.

Recall that the coordinating minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, had announced at the end of 2023 that an additional 750,000 Nigerians signed up for health insurance within the first 100 days of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

Since the beginning of 2023, the NHIA under its current management led by Dr Kelechi Ohiri has been working on various strategic measures to shore up the figures in pursuit of the administration’s target of universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. Among several measures targeted at improving synergies with public and private sector partners – and ultimately enrolment figures – NHIA initiated and is leading the ongoing review of capitation fees paid to healthcare providers.

The capitation fees are fixed payments to healthcare providers based on estimated value of services to patients. They constitute a key incentive for achieving improved quality of services and attracting enrollees. Already a temporary rate has been agreed, pending the announcement of a revised rate.