Healthcare in Nigeria

There seems to be a lack of cohesion between the different parties involved in provision of healthcare in the country. These parties include the different healthcare service providers, health insurance provides and regulators.
This is typified by the disparity in the quality of care between the public and private healthcare options in the country. The co-existence of public and private healthcare options in the country are due to the recognition of the dual nature of healthcare. The recognition of healthcare as a right provided by the public option and as a commodity provided by the private option. However, the chronic underfunding of the public sector leads to a mostly commodification of healthcare in the country. This leads to market forces fueling exorbitant cost of healthcare especially for out of pocket payment for healthcare services.

HEALTH INSURANCE

Health insurance cover across the world has become a topical issue, especially following the recent global pandemic. The cost of quality healthcare to the public is determined by the health insurance coverage rate among the public. The wider the coverage, the increased capability to provide quality healthcare at significantly reduced cost, to an increasing population of people. As a case study, the conundrum of exorbitant cost of healthcare in USA is contributed by the relatively low coverage rate of health insurance among the public and an exaggerated dependence on private health insurance cover. In Britain and most European countries there is universal health insurance cover, while 9.2% of Americans (in 2019) are without health insurance. In 2019 private health insurance cover in Britain accounted for about 13% of the healthcare insurance cover while in America in the same year, private health insurance accounted about 68.5% of health insurance cover. The American case is a more common scenario in low income countries. However in most high income countries the well-funded public option ensures a high coverage rate and an inevitable more affordable cost of healthcare in the country. The income disparity of between individuals with and without. Health insurance is associated with findings that confirm that out pocket payment for health can impoverish people.