Impact of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on Health Service Delivery in Nigeria

The desire to provide efficient and effective Health care delivery system has always prompted the Nigerian Government to review its health policies. One of such policies is the establishment of a Health Insurance Scheme, a framework for the provision of affordable and efficient Health care system in the country. This was informed by the awful performance in the Health Sector manifesting in severe shortage of qualified personnel, drugs and other health infrastructures. It became apparent that government alone could no longerfund the health system, hence recourse to alternative funding mechanisms, leading to the emergence of a health insurance scheme in the country. This paper examines the health insurance scheme in Nigeria and also quantitative-descriptive method of data collection and analysis from the various scholars was used. The paper further recommends that the scheme should be expanded to ensure that basic health needs of all citizens, irrespective of their social class and status is met. There is therefore the need for a legislation to make the scheme compulsory for all Nigerians. In furtherance of this, a community health insurance scheme should be put in place for implementation by all the three tiers of government- Federal, State and Local governments, as well as Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Community-based organizations (CBOs). Its further reform with a view to meeting its set objectives of providing qualitative and accessible health care delivery system