FACT SHEET / Enrolment
Enrolment into Oyo State Health Insurance
19th MAY 2022
Summary
- Enrolment refers to the act of signing up for services or the number of people signed up for a given service
- Oyo State Health Insurance Agency has enrolled no less than 120,000 lives into the scheme and has a coverage of 1.52% of the population in Oyo State
Overview
The Oyo State Health Insurance Agency was established as a conscious effort of the State Government to ensure access to qualitative health at an affordable cost through various prepayment systems to all residents of Oyo State, Nigeria. The Agency was established through Oyo State Health Insurance Law 2016, responsible for defining the minimum standard of healthcare plan that should be available to every resident of Oyo State at an annual cost of registration for the scheme depending on the Benefit plan chosen (4). Health Insurance is a contract that requires an insurer to pay some or all of a person’s healthcare costs in exchange for a premium (3). The pooling system of funds and resources which allows shared risk is fundamental to the concept of insurance. It allows the higher costs of the less healthy to be offset by the relatively lower costs of the healthy, either in a plan overall or within a premium rating category. In general, the larger the pool, the better (1). Therefore, the Scheme has what is known as the Formal and the Informal Sector. The Formal sector comprises of enrollees whose premium are paid for by deductions from their income as civil servants or government workers. The Informal sector on the other hand comprises of enrollees from private sectors, individuals and companies. The system by which informal sector make payment for enrolment is called ‘fee-paying’.
Table 1
NUMBER OF FORMAL SECTOR IN 2022(Active lives)

Table 2
NUMBER OF INFORMAL SECTOR IN 2022(Active lives)

Table 1 & 2 shows the distribution of enrolment across the first quarter in the year 2022 in both the formal and informal sector respectively, showing the number of active lives on the scheme. Active lives refers to the number of enrollees with an active premium currently on the scheme. This figure excludes expired premiums. However, the agency has enrolled no less than 120,000 lives into the scheme with a coverage no less than 1.52% of the Oyo State population. With various efforts, the Agency is working to restore these expired premiums and also looking to other areas of new enrolment
Strategies:
Adoption Model
- The Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme Adoption Program is a strategy the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA) has designed to optimize health insurance for all residents of the State focusing on those who are unable to afford the Oyo State Health Insurance Premium. The Adoption Program is designed such that Well-meaning individuals, Philanthropists, Public Office holders and other interested parties can pay the health insurance premium either in full or in part for those unable to. This new program in Oyo state would provide financial risk protections and access to quality health for the people of Oyo state
Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF)
- The Basic Health Care Provision Fund is a large-scale reform effort, intended to increase resources for health and extend Primary Health Care (PHC) to all Nigerians through the provision of a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS) and Emergency Medical Treatment (EMT) financed by an annual grant from the Federal Ministry of Nigeria (FGON), International donor Agencies and funds from other sources released to State Social Health Insurance Agencies for enrolment into Health Insurance, thereby increasing access to PHC services for all Nigerians, especially the poor and the vulnerable. The BHCPF is designed as a means of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and recognizes the following as the vulnerable groups: pregnant women, children under 5 years of age, disabled persons and elderly persons 85 years and above
Community Based Health Insurance
- This is another strategy the Scheme is utilizing to bring on board more enrollees. It involves the coming together of a community to jointly pull resources to enroll members for Health Insurance.
Institution Enrolment
- This involves the enrolment of enrollees through engagement with Institutions that are Semi-autonomous. Thus bringing on board; - A well designed & robust Student Plan - An Enhanced Staff Benefit Package
Institution Enrolment
- This is called the ‘do it yourself’ approach designed to encourage easy enrolment into the Scheme.
Online Care Providers (Telemedicine)
- Still in the spirit of making things easy for Oyo State residents and facilitating easy access to health care, another strategy adopted by OYSHIA is access to care via telemedicine. Oyo State Health Insurance Agency has on board Virtual Health care Providers.
Organized Private Sector (OPS)
- This includes enrolment of Private Establishment, Companies, Groups and Associations including Religious bodies, Trade groups, Banks and Ventures, brought on board through advocacy visits and programs.
Facility Renovations
- It is not a coincidence that four of the six letters in health are “heal”. We know how important healthcare facilities are to the wellbeing of the public, so ensuring its comfortability, quality and standard is our top priority and a strategy. The Oyo State Health Insurance Agency engages in renovation and commissioning of Primary Health Care (PHC) centers.
Media Sensitization
- The Agency engages in various forms of media sensitization such as Television programs, Radio Programs, and Social Media such as facebook, twitter, instagram & linkedin to bring awareness to the public on the scheme and also as a means of feedback from the public
Sources
1. American Academy of Actuaries (2022) Risk Pooling: How Health Insurance in the Individual Market Works.
2. Basic Health Care Provision Fund (2021) Facility WDC-Level Training on the BHCPF: A Guide for Facilitators. Page 8, 23.
3. Investopedia; Health Insurance Guide. Health Insurance Definition (investopedia.com)
4. National Council on Health. (2015) Memorandum of the Honorable Minister of Health on the implementation of the State Supported Health Insurance Schemes. )
5. Oyo State Health Insurance Data Management Archives
For More Information:
Oyo State Health Insurance Agency
Ministry of Establishment, Secretariat,
Ibadan, Oyo State
Nigeria.