Osun Health Insurance Scheme Law: Taking The Bull By The Horn

The Osun State Health Insurance Scheme which would provide affordable health care for all citizens across board has been described by stakeholders as a welcome development.

The scheme is not in place yet, but indications have emerged that before the first quarter of 2018,the scheme would be put in place.

According to first hand information, the Governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had given a directive to both the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu and Special Adviser on Health, Dr. Oyinlola 90 days to come up with a draft bill on the establishment of the Osun State Health Insurance Scheme to be presented to the State House of Assembly.

Prior to this directive, it had been the policy of the administration of Aregbesola as enshrined in the six point integral action plan to promote healthy living through the provision of free and accessible health care services.

Notwithstanding the success achieved by the free health scheme, more are still being done in the area of health care provision.

Although the health insurance scheme is totally different from the free health care provision, as for the latter, the government provides health care services in all its primary and secondary health care facilities for free, while in the former, every citizen is expected to pay a certain amount of their income into a specified pool and at the end both the have and the have-not will receive health care services without recourse to their social standing in the society.

With that mandate given to the state’s health ministry, the Commissioner for Health and the Special Adviser to the governor on Health were reported to have swung into action and brought together all the experts from the State Ministry of Justice, Finance, Health, State of Osun Primary Health Care Development Board, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a two days stakeholders workshop on how to draft a working state health insurance scheme bill that the state executive council under the administration of Aregbesola could present to the House of Assembly for passage.

The workshop objective was in three fold, and they are; to understand the components of the legal framework for the state health insurance scheme and its implications to the Osun State context; to draft a bill that provides for the establishment of the Osun State Health Insurance Scheme (OSHIS) while ensuring involvement of key stakeholders; and to reach a consensus on the key provision and contents of the OSHIS bill that will ensure universal health coverage to the residents of Osun.

From the administration point of view, if the bill on the establishment of the Osun State Health Insurance Scheme (OSHIS) becomes a reality, it would be another feather on the success cap of the administration, as most stakeholders at the bill drafting workshop agreed that though, the provision of free health care services is desirable, but no more fashionable.

They all agreed that the in-thing now was in health insurance scheme as practiced all over the world, since there are benefits to be enjoyed when the law is fully operational.

The State’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu also asserted that the Insurance Scheme on establishment would take into consideration, the vulnerable people and those who are so poor and cannot pay for proper health care services.

The bill when signed into law and with the subsequent establishment of the OSHIS and its agency, will ensure that the rich pay for the poor and the healthy will pay for the sick since it is an insurance scheme.

As informed by Alhaji Ahmed Yahaya, the NHIS coordinator, the NHIS has been at the forefront of getting the state to log into the health insurance scheme.

Aside that, Pharmacist Nuhu Ajodi, noted that the NHIS and the state will collaborate, saying, the state will be in the driving seat and NHIS will collaborate based on what both parties agreed.