By Fidelis Onyejegbu
May 2022 signifies a landmark in the healthcare delivery history of Nigeria as the National Health Insurance Scheme (2004) was repealed by the National Health Insurance Authority Act. The golden provision in the new legislation is that health insurance coverage has been made compulsory for all Nigerians and the country’s legal inhabitants.
It is a laudable provision as it has provided a legal foundation for large scale uptake of health insurance coverage in Nigeria – a step toward the attainment of Universal Health Coverage in the country. The UHC connotes a situation where everyone has access to the health care services when and where they need them without any financial difficulty. The National Health Insurance Scheme Strategic Plan (2020-2030) stated that only about 4.2 per cent of Nigerians are covered under the Social Health Insurance.
