THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE AMONG PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Public service workers are those who carry out the responsibility of the government; they are often classified as staff. They occupy career positions of responsibility, and are entitled to official benefits which if not guaranteed can affect productivity and output. One of these benefits is the establishment of the NHIS scheme by the Federal Government to provide healthcare services for public service workers at an inexpensive cost, since it was discovered that with the fixed and low income, majority of the public service workers cannot boast of meeting their basic medical needs. They are daily confronted with the condition of high cost of drugs and medical services which are not easily affordable. Regrettably, these expectations of the workers have changed over time. Even though the Government made the NHIS scheme mandatory for civil servants yet the health services provided for under scheme are limited. The paper, therefore, discusses the legal framework for the mandatory health insurance among public service workers in Nigeria. It identified the health services provided under NHIS scheme and those provided under the statutory health insurance scheme in Germany. What is found is that the health services excluded under the NHIS scheme are the health services mostly needed by public service workers. The paper finds that the German statutory health insurance provides for more health services than Nigeria, The paper also finds that a lot of public service workers in Nigeria are not satisfied with the health services provided for under the NHIS scheme. As a pathway to its success, the paper suggests expansion of the scheme to cover more health challenges.