By Anastasia Agunwa :
The Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) has said that it is an offence for any citizen not to have health insurance coverage as stipulated in the Anambra State Health Insurance Law of 2016.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Simeon Beluonwu Onyemaechi stated this in Awka.
Onyemaechi said the state health insurance law came into force following the advent of the National Health Insurance Authority Law which replaced the National Health Insurance Scheme.
According to him, it is of paramount importance to underscore the fact that the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme Law of 2016, makes health insurance mandatory for every resident of Anambra state.
He therefore averred that anybody resident in the state and is not registered with the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme is an offender of the law that established the state health insurance scheme.
“The law is clear that the scheme shall be mandatory for every Anambra citizen residing in the state.
He explained that the law was not enforced due to the National Health Insurance Law of 2004 which made health insurance a voluntary scheme for the citizenry.
The development, according to him, hampered the enforcement of the Anambra State Health Insurance Law because of the federal law that prevailed.
“But recent developments have shown that in May this year, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the National Health Insurance Authority Law which repealed the National Health Insurance Scheme Law of 2004; that currently in Nigeria there is no entity called the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Onyemaechi further disclosed that the new National Health Insurance Authority Law of 2022 has repealed NHIS and replaced it with National Health Insurance Authority for Nigeria.
He added that the new law has made health insurance mandatory for every resident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ASHIA boss stated that the Anambra State Health Insurance Law of 2016 could henceforth be enforced beginning from 28th May, 2022 when the National Health Insurance Authority Law was gazetted.
“As it stands at the moment in Nigeria, health insurance is compulsory for every legal resident”, he posited.
He said that the first pillar of the health agenda of Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is to attain universal health coverage, adding that globally social health insurance is a sure vehicle for the attainment of universal health coverage through compulsory health insurance.
He said the National Health Insurance Authority Law came into being to end the era of cash and carry health system where people will take their money to health facilities for out-of-pocket expenses.
Onyemaechi explained that health insurance enables one to seek healthcare whenever the need arises, saying that people no longer need to carry a lot of money to hospitals to access medical care.
He posited that beneficiaries of the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme paid only 10% of the total cost of medical bills.
“It is an offence today in Anambra state to have a company, a business, a school, hotel, factory or anything and you don’t provide health insurance for the people who are working for you.
“It is an offence punishable under the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme Law 2016 because we can enforce it today on the strength of the new National Health Insurance Authority Law 2022”, he said.
Onyemaechi however stated that in the course of enforcement, “those who are poor and vulnerable and cannot help themselves will be taken care of, by what is described as equity funds and basic health care provision funds, as the global agenda is the attainment of universal health coverage by the year 2030”.
