•Urges enrollees to report defaulting HMOs
By Henry Uche
National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has warned the Health Management Organisations (HMOs) under its watch against sabotaging health insurance inclusion vowing that it would not hesitate derisk any organisation that fails to live up to expectations in rendering quality service delivery to enrollees.
According to the agency, a lot of HMOs are biting more than they can chew, warning that HMOs that place a burden and don’t render quality services to enrollees will be derisked as they are now mandated to report poor services to the NHIA while encouraging the enrollees to report any HMO that is not acting in line with what they know should be. Addressing a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos recently, Dr. Bethuel- Kasimu Abraham, Deputy General Manager (DGM) NHIA, Ikeja office, said the Authority was working assiduously to get Nigerians covered under the health insurance net.
According to the DGM, the NHIA Act 2022, which has made health insurance mandatory for all also gave states the platform to set up health insurance schemes.
Abraham who took the participants through the NHIA benefit package, said the states were also making moves to ensure the country achieves the 2030 target.
He hinted that the new guideline, to be released soon, empowers NHIA to investigate cases and sanction errant providers accordingly.
His words: “For Health Mainte- nance Organisations (HMOs) that have consistent trends of either owing providers or not operating within ambit of the guidelines, we will delist. A lot of HMOs are biting more than they can chew. HMOs that place a burden and does not render quality service to enrollees would be de-risked.
“HMOS now have to report poor services to the NHIA. Enrollees are encouraged to report any HMO that is not acting in line with what they know should be. We will do more of educating the HMOs on quality service delivery,” he assured.