Technical working group to drive ‘Health Insurance Under One Roof’

A Technical Working Group (TWG) has been inaugurated with a primary charge to drive the process of producing for adoption, the policy and operational documents and modalities for the effective implementation of Health Insurance Under One Roof (HIUOR) in the country.

HIUOR is a conceptual framework designed for the coordination, integration and regulation of health insurance in Nigeria, which is a constructive reaction to the challenges of the current decentralised system.

This is sequel to the resolution of a recent retreat on health insurance under one roof, which was attended by key stakeholders of health insurance in the county, including the leadership of the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS), State Social Health Insurance Agencies (SSHIAs), the bodies of providers and Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs), organised labour and development partners.

The retreat organised by NHIS, employed technical methodologies to examine the wide range of issues militating against the effective delivery of health insurance in Nigeria, while also proffering solutions and strategies to implement them.

Inaugurating the TWG at the corporate head office of NHIS in Abuja, the Executive Secretary, Prof. Mohammed Nasir Sambo, reminded members of the group of the urgency and strategic significance of HIUOR for the much-desired transformation of the health insurance landscape in the country.

According to him, HIUOR is not an end in itself, but rather a principal tool for the ultimate attainment of universal health coverage in Nigeria. It therefore holds the key to releasing the energy of the nation for rapid socio-economic development by reason of a healthy and productive population.

Against this backdrop, Sambo charged the technical group to consider their assignment as a national task that feeds directly into the health sector dimension of President Muhammad Buhari’s Next Level Agenda.

The Terms of Reference for the guidance of the committee on the assignment include studying and analysing the adopted framework of Health Insurance Under One Roof, with particular reference to the operationalization of every element of the communiqué arising from the retreat.

It is also expected that the TWG will work to define the context and content of HIUOR documents, as well as determine the modalities and resources necessary for the successful implementation of HIUOR.

The development of a comprehensive framework for implementing HIUOR, developing the modalities for tracking progress made and other activities required to ensure speed and quality in the implementation of the framework, are also expected to receive the attention of the Technical Working Group. To underscore the importance of the working group and its assignment, the Executive Secretary of NHIS is chairing it, with other members drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, the Forum of Chief Executives of SSHIAs, development partners represented by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Civil Society Organisations.