By Chioma Obinna

Health policy experts have raised alarm over Nigeria’s healthcare financing system, describing it as unsustainable even as they called for urgent reforms to expand insurance coverage and prioritise preventive care.

The experts raised concerns during a webinar hosted by SYNLAB Nigeria, themed “Enabling Healthcare Financing for Complete Patient Care,” where stakeholders warned that millions of Nigerians are being excluded from care due to high out-of-pocket costs.

Nigeria currently funds about 70 percent of its healthcare through direct household spending, while less than 10 percent of the population is covered by any form of health insurance.

The experts posited that this heavy reliance on personal spending discourages early treatment and exposes families to financial hardship.

Speaking at the event, health financing expert and professional officer, the World Health Organisation, WHO, Dr. Adeniyi Adeniran described the country’s healthcare financing structure as weak across key areas, including revenue generation, pooling of funds, and strategic purchasing.

He called for the adoption of innovative financing mechanisms such as blended finance, outcome-based funding, and digital health solutions to improve efficiency and close funding gaps.

“Innovative financing is not a luxury for wealthy systems; it is essential for constrained systems like Nigeria’s,” he said.

Also speaking, Dr. Olumuyiwa Olusanya criticised the system’s focus on treatment rather than prevention, warning that delays in seeking care often lead to more severe health conditions and higher costs.

“Nigeria is financing the end of the story and ignoring the beginning,” he said, urging policymakers to include preventive screenings and diagnostics in standard insurance packages.

Olusanya further called on the National Health Insurance Authority to enforce mandatory health insurance and ensure broader coverage, while advocating for payment models such as capitation and outcome-based financing to improve service delivery and outcomes.

Providing a technology-driven perspective, Jennie Nwaokoye, founder of Clafiya, highlighted the role of digital health savings platforms in reducing the financial burden on patients.

According to her, Clafiya allows users to save gradually for medical expenses while accessing discounted healthcare services, reducing out-of-pocket costs by up to 40 percent and employer healthcare spending by as much as 60 percent.

She added that a partnership between Clafiya and SYNLAB Nigeria is helping expand access to affordable laboratory testing, demonstrating the impact of collaboration between diagnostics providers and fintech platforms.

Speakers at the webinar agreed that Nigeria must move away from its fragmented, treatment-driven system to a more integrated approach that covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care.
They emphasised that meaningful reform will depend on coordinated efforts among government agencies, insurers, healthcare providers, and private sector innovators to build a more inclusive and sustainable healthcare system.