From the 100,000 people currently captured in its health insurance scheme, the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency plans to climb up to 450,000.
The Executive Secretary, OYSHIA, Dr. Sola Akande, disclosed this during a two-day media dialogue on how to improve healthcare access for children and women through state-supported health insurance scheme, ‘The Nation’ reports.
The media dialogue, organised by the state Ministry of Information in collaboration with OYSHIA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), took place in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
Not less than 100,000 persons have been enrolled into the state health insurance scheme, which was launched 18 months ago. While other schemes focused on civil servants, OYSHIA boss said the state started by attracting enrollees in the informal sector where the bulk of the poor eke out their livelihood.
According to him, more than 15,000 farmers, artisans and market women have joined the health insurance scheme. Unlike other state-supported health insurance schemes, Oyo health insurance is unique because the Act establishing it has a provision that two per cent of the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) be channelled into the scheme.
While stressing the essence of having health insurance, Dr. Akande pointed out that the scheme is making it possible for enrollees to visit doctors as occasion demands with the aim of determining their health status even when they are not sick. Describing health insurance as protection against financial hazards, spreading of risks and pooling of resources to ensure that people remain healthy, the executive secretary maintained that current trend in healthcare delivery places emphasis on preventive medicine.
“The benefits are far more than what enrollees would contribute as premium. The agency has received a lot of testimonies from beneficiaries since the scheme started. It makes them to see their doctors even when nothing is wrong with them and also improving their health-seeking habit,” he was quoted as saying.
