The Oyo State Government is set to commence house-to-house enrolment in communities in the State, in the bid to encourage rural dwellers to buy into the State Health Insurance Scheme.
The Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency, OYSHIA, Dr Sola Akande, disclosed this in Ibadan.
The Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency, OYSHIA, Dr Sola Akande, revealed that the initiative, which had always been in the outline of the Agency, was borne out of the fact that community-based health insurance is a flavour of the Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme and the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration, as the Governor recently flagged-off the initiative in the State.
Akande noted that many private companies, organisations, insurance companies, stand-alone bodies, among others have indicated interest in working with Oyo State, having seen the much that have been achieved by OYSHIA in four years, adding that the Agency has commenced training for the agents it needs to work with, so as to effectively consummate the community-based scheme.
Talking about the benefit of the package, he explained that the scheme still has the same premium of N8000 and benefit package of N3000 per annum, but is adopting a different style that would make it convenient for people in communities to enroll by giving them the opportunity to pay in installments, as they might not be able to afford the N8000 one-off payment and they would have some level of assurance to pay because most of the people that have been recruited to work as agents are from the communities.
He stated that the principle in OYSHIA is to start projects embarked on from few Local Government areas that are near to them, so the projects could be easily monitored, before spreading to others, and is therefore adopting the same method for the community-based scheme by kick-starting the project with three Local Government areas, Ona Ara, Ibadan North and Akinyele, as the pilots.
The Executive Secretary affirmed that the house-to-house enrolment would ensure effective communication, and an increase in information dissemination and in the number of enrollees, as facilities would be deployed to LGAs based on the strength of enrolment, adding that the agents had been instructed not to take cash, as much at it could be helped, to ensure accountability.
Akande noted that a portfolio, which would record payments made, would also be opened for each enrollee paying in installments but would not be activated until the full N8000 had been paid.