NHIA Extends Health Insurance To Cover Enrollees With HIV, TB

By LOVETH AZODO,  Lagos

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has announced the expansion of the national health insurance scheme to include coverage for critical health conditions such as HIV (PLHIV) and tuberculosis (TB), with pilot programs currently underway in four states.

This was disclosed by Mrs. Aisha Abubakar Haruna, Acting Director of NHIA’s Lagos Regional Office, who represented Dr. Kelechi Ohiri, Director General of NHIA, at the Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) held in Lagos.

Dr. Ohiri revealed that the health insurance scheme now covers no fewer than 20 million Nigerians, up from 16.8 million in 2023, representing 99 percent of the 2027 presidential target.

He added that an additional 800,000 beneficiaries were enrolled under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), bringing the total number of beneficiaries under that scheme to 2.6 million as of May 2025.

He further explained that the Authority is actively working to address drug shortages and delays in care through a multi-project strategy.

“NHIA has focused on expanding health insurance coverage, improving the quality of care, and protecting the rights of enrollees while strategically and creatively deploying health insurance to save lives in a way that contributes to and sustains significant benefits to the health sector,” he said.

According to her, the milestone of 20 million enrollees was achieved as of June 2025, through the combined efforts of state health insurance agencies, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), and the National Health Insurance Scheme.

“As a matter of fact, we have exceeded the mandate given to us by the President. He gave us a target, and we surpassed it in June. We’ve seen a significant increase from 16.8 million enrollees in 2023 to 20 million by June 2025,” he said.

He also stated that from 2024 to 2025, the NHIA has taken strategic steps to: Revise tariffs, Overhaul the accreditation process, Mandate a one-hour limit for care authorization, Mitigate past issues such as medicine shortages, denial of care, delayed issuance of authorization codes, and provider payment delays.