Stakeholders Move Against Compulsory Health Insurance Scheme In Lagos
Some stakeholders in Lagos State have moved against the compulsory health insurance scheme, saying that there is an urgent need to reappraise Section 6 of the amendment State’s Health scheme law 2015 which seeks to make health insurance compulsory for all residents.
The stakeholders made the observation at a Public Hearing on, “A Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Health Scheme, 2015, held at the weekend at Lateef Jakande Auditorium, Assembly Complex, Lagos State House of Assembly.
The stakeholders at the meeting organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly Ad hoc Committee on Health Services headed by Hon. Segun Olulade argued that some residents have been covered by one health insurance scheme or the other, and that the amendment would lead to multiple taxations.
The extant provision states that the Scheme shall be compulsory and apply to all residents of the state that are not covered by an existing health scheme.
In his submission, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State Dr. Jide Idris said, “How can we ascertain residents that have an existing health insurance scheme? The section also says that all residents in the formal or informal sector must provide evidence of being covered by the scheme or an existing scheme.”
In his own remarks Mr. Francis Ogunremi Chairman Trade Union Congress (TUC) Lagos State said some residents in both formal and informal sectors have health schemes already, and that making the scheme compulsory will not work.
For Mr. Thompson Akpabio from the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), who spoke on Section 2 the extent of the supervisory role of the ministry on the board was not clear, suggesting the use of the word oversight instead of supervision to avoid clashes.
Akpabio also averred that, “I will urge that we maintain the status quo, not making the scheme compulsory”.
