Abstract
The world has been experiencing a pattern of demographic movement from high fertility/ mortality to low fertility/mortality rates in recent times. Hence, demographic projections for Nigeria point to a reality of an increase in both the absolute and proportional figures of the elderly in the Nigerian population in the midst of poor health and socioeconomic indicators. The paper therefore assesses how the indicators of poverty and underdevelopment; and government policy issues have played-out, over the years, to place the elderly in vulnerable and/or poor health condition. This is made worst by the fact that, over 70% of health expenditure in Nigeria comes from out-of-pocket spending. Consequently, not only are sound public policies on healthcare needed but also there is need to address healthcare coverage. To achieve this requires a sound and efficient insurance coverage that will be universal in scope as to reach out to all groups. The paper argues that for Nigeria to achieve healthy ageing there is need to extend a special insurance coverage to the elderly because of their vulnerable nature. Thus, it suggests the Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP) as a policy framework that will promote healthy ageing by enhancing health coverage for institutional and ambulatory care for the elderly.
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I, Augustine Okhobo Dokpesi, declare that I have no conflict of interest with respect to this article. It was not sponsored by any organization; hence I do not have any financial relationship with any organization.
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Dokpesi, A.O. Senior Citizens Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP): a Policy Framework for Healthy Ageing in Nigeria. Ageing Int 42, 290–305 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9299-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9299-1