Incidences of sudden death could be averted in the country should Nigerians learn to leverage available health insurance policies and packages.
This is the standpoint of a health insurance service provider, the managing director of Ultimate Health Management Services, Otunba Lekan Ewenla.
Explaining the how, he stated: “Health insurance is designed to change the narration of our poor health indices through regular interactive sessions and sensitisation of the enrollees by the health maintenance organisations that are statutorily saddled with the responsibility of driving enrolment and managing their access to quality health care services.
“Health insurance is designed to let our people appreciate the importance of paying premium attention to their wellbeing.”
“As a matter of fact, the concept of health insurance was, first of all, to change the health-seeking behaviour of Nigerians,” he said in an interview with journalists.
He observed that rather than waiting until they are ill, that health insurance policies encourage people to know their health statuses regularly.
To stem the above, he advised the National Health Insurance Authority to embark on sensitisation and awareness campaign to let Nigerians know the enormous benefits inherent in health insurance.
“It is important to educate the populace about the inherent benefits and the implications of non-compliance with the law”, Ewenla said reminding that there are sanctions for non-compliance with the national health insurance policy.
This he said is contained circular issued by the secretary to the government of the federation on 4th September, 2025.
”It is important to mention that the benefit package is robust, well understood by the NHIA accredited network of Health Care Facilities -HCFs across the country and above all, the premium is very affordable” he said.
On the National Health Insurance Authority NHIA Act of 2022 and the Federal Government circular of September 2025, he submitted:
“We need to migrate completely from paying out of pocket for medical services.
“It is no longer in vogue. It is no longer trending.
“People should enroll in the health insurance programme to have unhindered access to qualitative and affordable health care services all year round”, he added.
