The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ultimate Health Management Services, Lekan Ewenla, has called for a strategic partnership between Health Management Organisations (HMOs) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) to improve compliance with the Federal Government’s mandatory health insurance policy.

Ewenla said such collaboration is crucial for expanding public awareness and encouraging more private-sector employers to enrol their workers in the scheme.

He noted that HMOs, as operators and drivers of the health insurance system, must work with NECA to sensitise employers on the benefits of the government directive, which mandates organisations with at least five employees to enrol their staff.

Ewenla said closer cooperation among HMOs, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and the umbrella association of HMOs would promote systematic compliance and accelerate enrolment nationwide.

According to him, employers already have a statutory obligation to cater for the medical needs of their workers, and this can be fulfilled by simply converting existing medical allowances into health insurance premiums. He explained that most payroll structures already allocate a percentage of basic salary as medical allowance, similar to other benefits such as housing, transportation, and utilities.

Ewenla recalled that when the Federal Government began the public-sector health insurance scheme in 2005, it converted 10 per cent of the basic salary of federal civil servants, previously designated as medical allowance, into their health insurance premium. He said private-sector employers can adopt the same model without incurring additional costs.

He added that the government’s directive on mandatory enrolment was also designed to establish a unified national health insurance database using citizens’ National Identification Numbers (NIN). The issuance of compliance certificates to private companies by the NHIA, he said, is meant to verify adherence and gradually improve Nigeria’s poor health indices locally and globally.

Ewenla further stressed that the proposed partnership must extend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for the largest share of Nigeria’s workforce. He said HMOs are already considering flexible premium payment plans, including instalment options, to support SMEs in meeting the requirement.

According to him, increased enrolment would strengthen the health sector, reduce the ongoing exodus of doctors and nurses to countries with long-established mandatory insurance systems, and enhance healthcare infrastructure through increased financial inflows.

He lamented that about 70 per cent of Nigerians still pay for healthcare out of pocket, a situation that pushes many into self-medication or spiritual interventions due to fear of hospital costs.

Ewenla also urged medical directors of public and private health facilities to adopt business-oriented management practices, including standard accounting systems and robust digital tools for database management.

These measures, he said, would support proper assessment of disease burdens, determine medical loss ratios and enable the development of fit-for-purpose healthcare programmes.