Abuja, Nigeria (CU)_ roHealth, a Nigerian healthtech company, has launched a free health insurance plan for Small and Medium-scale Businesses in the country. According to CEO Olalekan Olude’s statement to the media during roHealth’s formal introduction in Nigeria, this announcement coincides with its collaboration with PayCentre and ConnectNigeria.
Olude listed the benefits of the plan to the media. He said, “We are a platform that gives employees greater decision-making control over their health insurance with cashback when it is not used. Employers use the platform by uploading their employees and setting a budget. Employees can then choose from over 100 Health Plans from top HMOs in Nigeria”.
Olude spoke about the company’s mission. He said, “roHealth is on a mission to increase access to healthcare in Nigerians by providing free health insurance for a limited period. A lot of companies do not trust HMOs and believe that they do not provide value to their employees. We are here to give them the opportunity to get their employees to try it out.”
Paycentre is one of the country’s largest agent banking networks, with more than 80,000 agents across the country, while Connect Nigeria is a digital database with over 300,000 businesses providing useful data on businesses, real estate, technology, entertainment, and others. Connect Nigeria is home to nearly 300,000 businesses, and for the company, it represents a strategic alignment between a healthcare platform and another that wishes to preach the message of healthcare delivery to its customers.
By accessing the roHealth’s APIs, its partners can accomplish their objectives of taking the healthcare closer to their customers and employees. These collaborations would enable roHealth to reach millions of Nigerians more quickly. Olude said, “Nigerians have different health needs and budgets, but what we’ve realized from our partners is that partnering with one HMO excludes them from working with another. But working with roHealth as a partner creates that opportunity to be able to connect as many HMOs as possible by connecting to the roHealth APIs as a service”.
Companies with a minimum of five employees can sign up for this service using the roHealth website, https://www.rohealth.ng/free-trial and benefits, which includes benefits for Laboratory, Accidents, Surgery, and other medical expenses. The aim is to ensure that all Nigerians have access to healthcare coverage, whether through their employer, the informal sector, or the services they use, for example purchasing data, airtime, or food.
According to Olalekan, the future of healthcare insurance will mainly be determined by who pays for coverage. He said, “In most countries, Healthcare is usually paid for by the government, through taxes or by the employer in part or in full, but a lot of Nigerians are exposed to zero healthcare coverage and this is because the channels through which they consume services haven’t thought about giving healthcare to them or covering them as their customers or workers.”
