The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has said it would give states autonomy to set up health insurance agencies.
Acting Executive Secretary of the scheme, Mr. Olufemi Akingbade, who said this during a courtesy visit to Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nair El Rufai, recently, noted that the move was necessary to deploy resources in states to match funds accruing from the National Health Insurance Act to attain sustainability.
Mr. Akingbade, who was received on behalf of the Governor by his deputy, Arch. Barnabas Bantex, noted that as part of the strategies to scale up coverage of Nigerians within the shortest time frame, the scheme has developed the State Supported Social Health Insurance Programme (SSHIP), targeted at increasing health access for every citizen.
He further stressed that the SSHIP would give the state the necessary autonomy to set up their own health insurance agency that will provide access to health care through pooling of financial resources, adding that every participating state would have a sizable bulk of its contributions channeled back to the state healthcare system.
