I recently wrote about the health insurance coverage in Nigeria, how it’s important that the formal sector, though small, be adequately captured into the health insurance net and how we must think of ways to gradually include the informal economy into the mix. I attended the Medverge conference today and I am glad that my thoughts are actively in the works.
A panel speaker at the event who was involved in the process that led to the NHIA Act, which has since led to the establishment of the NHIA as an organization talked about how the NHIA and NPHCDA are, in my own words, two sides of a coin. They are helping Nigeria to reach better health outcomes. She also talked about how data is currently the world’s largest goldmine and why Nigeria should pay attention to what she described as ‘federated learning’.
In my piece, I wrote about a Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), which is 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which can be accessed by the vulnerable in the society. She said they don’t even need to know whether you earn or not to decipher who is vulnerable in the society. All they need to do is to use a system called the Poverty Probability Index. Health insurance administrators should pay more attention to that index.
Nigeria really do need to capture more citizens into the health insurance net. Let’s bring in the vulnerable.
#YeahMomentsWithYO!