Nigeria:Oceanic HMO Partners Ekiti State on Health Insurance

Oceanic Health Management Limited is set to partner with the Government of Ekiti State on the implementation of the formal sector and community health insurance programme. The company in its quest to facilitate hitch-free access to efficient medical services across the nation took its proposal to the Ekiti State Government in Ado-Ekiti recently.

Representing Dr. (Mrs.) Cecilia Ibru, chairman Oceanic Insurance Group (OIG), Prince Lafor Olateru-Olagbegi, OIG’s managing director told the state’s deputy governor, Dr. Sikiru Tae Lawal that the funding of the programme would be contributory, an equivalent of 10 percent of the basic salary of the civil servants to be contributed by the Government while the employers contribute an equivalent of 5% of their basic salary.

Olateru-Olagbegi said the programme would ensure hitch-free access to medical services for employees of the state and the various local governments, and add value to the well-being and productivity of Ekiti State workers. Responding, the Deputy Governor thanked the company’s management for the proposal adding that it was in keeping with the administration’s plans to provide Ekiti citizens with access to excellent healthcare from the primary to tertiary level. “The Ekiti State government would be glad to partner with Oceanic Health’s laudable health insurance programme to ensure that our people are healthy enough to create the wealth that we need to move the state forward,” the deputy governor added.

Oceanic Health, which has since been licensed by the NHIS to operate as an Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) is structured to provide health care through a network of reputable hospitals strategically located across Nigeria. These health care providers include primary, secondary and tertiary care institutions, amongst others.

In Ekiti State, Oceanic Health’s package will offer various benefits including: out patient care; prescribed generic drugs as contained in the National Essential Drug List; Diagnostic Tests as contained in the diagnostic test list; maternity care for up to four live births; preventive care including immunization, health education, family planning, ante-natal and post-natal care; and consultation with specialists.

Other benefits include: hospitalization in a standard ward for a defined number of days; eye examination and care excluding spectacles and contact lenses; range of prosthesis limited to the one manufactured in Nigeria; and preventive dental care and pain relief.

In addition to partnering with Ekiti State on the formal sector social health insurance programme, Oceanic Health also intends to help the state use health insurance as a social protection mechanism for often neglected groups including, residents of rural areas, orphans, retirees and unemployed, prison inmates, students of tertiary institutions, and urban self employed persons.

Oceanic Health’s community insurance programme is non-profit making and lays emphasis on providing platforms for upgrading primary health care centers, training community healthcare workers, and establishing structures for easy referrals to secondary healthcare facilities.

Essentially, Oceanic Health plans offer definitive medical benefits to employees and better financial planning of healthcare benefits for employers. The prepaid premium facilitates budgeting of healthcare costs and aids reduction in yearly medical costs with a guaranteed quality assurance mechanism. The company’s services ensure improved health outcomes; enhanced staff welfare benefits arising from savings on medicals and eliminates the administrative burden of processing medical claims.

In addition, there is also the Chronic Disease Management Programme; a product designed to offer comprehensive healthcare services for people with chronic illnesses.

Some Oceanic Health products include coverage of international evacuation for illnesses (both routine and emergencies) that cannot be managed adequately in Nigeria. Treatment outside Nigeria would be at the nearest centre of excellence, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland and South Africa. Oceanic Health has also launched a rural/community health insurance plan aimed at promoting effective primary healthcare delivery services in Nigeria.