Nigeria National Health Insurance Authority

A Nigerian federal agency created when the National Health Insurance Authority Bill was signed into law on May 19, 2022, replacing the earlier National Health Insurance Scheme Act of 1999, whose voluntary approach had enrolled less than 10 percent of the population after more than two decades. Unlike the scheme it replaced, the National Health Insurance Authority, abbreviated NHIA, is empowered to promote, regulate and integrate the country's various health insurance schemes and to make health insurance mandatory for every Nigerian citizen and legal resident; any employer with five or more staff must enroll its employees, along with a spouse and up to four children, in an NHIA-approved plan. The Act also establishes a dedicated fund intended to finance coverage for more than 83 million Nigerians classified as poor or otherwise vulnerable, who would not otherwise be able to afford a plan.