Health Insurance Shunned By Plateau State Lawmakers
Dr. Fabong Jemchang, the Director-General of the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLASCHEMA), has lamented that other than the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Idris Wase, no Plateau legislator, federal or state, has deemed it necessary to buy health insurance. Dr. Jemchang disclosed this news yesterday during a meeting with the media on ‘Security Community Sustainability’ in Jos.
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He stated that, “The importance of health insurance cannot be over-emphasised, as it protects beneficiaries from unexpected high medical cost. In some cases, you get free preventive care such as vaccination, screening and checks, even before you meet your deductible. It must have been in realisation of this significance that Governor Simon Lalong established PLASCHEMA in 2019 and saddled it with the responsibility of ensuring that all citizens have access to preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services of sufficient quality, while ensuring that the people don’t suffer financial hardship when paying for health services.”
According to him, politicians are more than expected, as possible as it can be in democratic climes, on their own, to see the need to take advantage of the services of the agency to better the lives of their constituents.
But this appears to be far from the case, considering his lamentation: “We have visited the National Assembly more than seven times. We have given them forms and account details, but no response. In the House of Representatives, only Wase has bought forms for his people. Others kept promising.”
Dr. Jemchang mused upon the irony that the legislators do not believe in what they were instrumental in its creation.
“Imagine! How can you create something you do not believe in?” he wondered.
He criticised the lawmakers in particular and the politicians in general for intentionally refusing to meet the needs of the people, but choosing instead to embark on programmes that do not have positive and direct influence on the lives of the people.
