The Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, has assured workers that funds retrieved from them as premiums for the State Health Insurance Scheme would enable them to have access to preventive and curative care when needed without paying out-of-pocket.

          Dr. Tomi Coker made this known during a stakeholders’ meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC), Ogun State Chapter, and other affiliate unions in Abeokuta.         

   She guaranteed that the government would ensure that the pool of funds realised for the Scheme is protected from extraneous access, adding that a framework had been put in place to protect the funds realised for health insurance from access by any government official once the scheme for the formal sector had been launched.

          ‘’As a government that has demonstrated sincerity of purpose and commitment to making healthcare more accessible, we will ensure that the pool of funds for the scheme were protected from extraneous access."   

          The Governor’s aide however, noted that the National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022 had made it mandatory for all citizens to have health insurance, adding that the present administration had proactively demonstrated its willingness to institutionalise Health insurance in the State by launching the scheme for the informal sector while also engaging labour leaders on how to make it work for the benefit of all workers in the State.

          She said the key to achieving universal health coverage, which Nigeria had signed up for, was for all citizens to have health insurance, saying this would ensure that the life expectancy of Nigerians irrespective of their socio-economic background improves within the next few years.

          "It often saddens my heart that people send letters to His Excellency seeking financial support to care for health conditions like renal failure. How many people like that can we afford to support? There are simply no funds for such. That is why health insurance is the way to go. Government is involved, you are involved and well-meaning individuals are involved too".

          "We have consulted with labour in the past couple of years. All the recommendations they made have been factored into the design of the health insurance for the formal sector.

          In his welcome address, the Chairman, NLC, Ogun State Chapter, Comrade Hakeem Ademola lamented the untimely deaths among the workforce due to the inability of workers to foot their medical bills, saying the adoption of health insurance would safeguard them from catastrophic health expenditures.