Nigeria could lose the gains made in the health insurance sector if the proposed tariff increase by private medical practitioners is not nipped in the bud
Health Insurance scheme: Subscribers get HMOs in Edo nigerianobservernews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nigerianobservernews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel s US correspondent based in New York
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with reporters at the White House, in Washington, January 21, 2021 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The US government’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday characterized the Israeli vaccine distribution effort as a “model for the rest of the world.”
“I use Israel as an example of what can happen when you effectively vaccinate a substantial proportion of the people,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in a phone interview with The Times of Israel.
NHIS undergoing reforms to fast track attainment of universal health coverage
There are indications that the ongoing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the non-passage of the amended National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Act have further slowed down the uptake of health insurance packages and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country.
In fact, The Guardian investigation revealed that more than 170 million Nigerians are still paying out-of-pocket to access medical services and out-of-pocket payments can make households and individuals incur catastrophic health expenditure and this can exacerbate the level of poverty. x
Critics say the NHIS has remained nonfunctional and the coverage rate has dropped from over 10 per cent (5.6 million Nigerians) ten years ago to just barely 1.72 per cent (one million Nigerians) today.
Ending the Diabetes-COVID Disaster
Overview of Excess, Preventable COVID Diabetes Deaths in New York City, New York State and the Nation
When Loretta Fleming, a South Bronx public housing resident with diabetes, took local self-management classes after years of failed efforts at trying to better control her diabetes, she was able to reduce her A1C (a blood sugar measure) from a near lethal 11% to 6.5%. She knew that by doing this she was slashing her risks for kidney failure, amputation and a range of other diabetes –related complications; what she didn’t know is that she was also slashing her risk for the worst outcomes -including death, ICU stays and ongoing illness -if she contracted COVID. By the time the COVID epidemic emerged, Loretta herself had become a diabetes community educator, helping hundreds of people in the area of the city which would have the city’s worst COVID infection rate -and greatest threat for people