Lagos Makes Health Insurance Mandatory As Sanwo-Olu Introduces New LPHP Reform
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has announced the adoption of a population-based enrolment model for employees of private organisations as part of efforts to streamline risk distribution and expand access to subsidised healthcare.
The governor made this known on Tuesday while launching a major milestone in the state’s health sector financing reforms—the Lagos Private Health Partnership (LPHP).
Delivering the governor’s keynote address, the Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, explained that the LPHP is an outcome of Lagos State’s domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act of 2022, adding “This domestication, effected through an Executive Order signed in July 2024, makes health insurance mandatory for all residents and establishes mechanisms for enforcement”.
Sanwo-Olu noted that the state set up a multi-stakeholder Technical Working Group whose recommendations informed the development of operational guidelines and the establishment of the LPHP to align private sector participation with policy direction, risk pooling, and digital accountability.
He added that the reform is expected to strengthen private health service delivery—which accounts for more than 70 percent of healthcare encounters in Lagos—while enabling insurers and providers to operate within a clearly defined framework that balances profitability, service standards, and equity.
In his opening remarks, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, described the launch as the beginning of the end for an inefficient private health insurance marketplace marked by unhealthy price undercutting, enrollee access restrictions, and declining trust among stakeholders. He said the LPHP was purposefully created to restore fairness, transparency, quality, and sustainability through a collaborative procurement platform.
Abayomi added that the LPHP is positioned as the government’s strongest tool for reversing inadequate health financing, low insurance penetration, workforce attrition, and rising medical tourism by improving health outcomes and restoring public confidence in the state’s healthcare system.
He disclosed that the LPHP is built on a robust digital marketplace that will manage enrolment, provider selection, fund flow, claims administration, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation with full compliance tracking. According to him, the new system will shift competition from price-based rivalry to value-driven service delivery, with standardised benefit plans and quality assurance enforced by HEFAMAA.
The Commissioner reiterated that full implementation of mandatory health insurance will commence after a six-month sensitisation period, in line with the Governor’s directive to expand risk pooling, strengthen cross-subsidisation, and enhance financial protection for residents. He emphasised that without widespread enrolment, Lagos cannot build a functional insurance ecosystem capable of delivering equitable, people-centred care.
The event, held in Victoria Island, brought together top government officials, healthcare regulators, private insurers, development partners, and financial institutions, who convened to discuss sustainable health financing and strategies for achieving universal health coverage.
