70+ Years Persons To Now Access Instant Healthcare Under NHIS

The National Health Insurance Authority has disclosed that people aged 70 years and above can now access immediate healthcare under the National Health Insurance Scheme once they enroll in the scheme.

Since 2003, when the scheme started, all members, except children under 5 and pregnant women, had to wait for one month after registration to access health care.

But in the announcement by the NHIA on Monday, the one-month waiting period has been eliminated for people aged 70 and above as well, effective September 26, 2022, at 6 p.m.

The Authority is of the view that this will accelerate the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and bridge the access inequity gap, adding that substantial progress has been made in this direction since the introduction of the scheme.

The NHIA noted that “during the one-month waiting period for the new aged enrollees, they are burdened with out-of-pocket payments in order to access health care until the 30-day waiting period is exhausted.”

“By this, persons aged 70 years and above who enrolled onto the scheme would have instant health care and shall access the full benefits package from the NHIS accredited health care providers.