Micro Pension Subscribers To Get Free Health Insurance Cover

There are strong indications that Micro Pension Plan (MPP) subscribers in the country will soon get free health insurance cover as part of benefits of subscribing to the micro pension scheme.
To this end, NATIONAL ECONOMY learnt that the National Pension Commission(PenCom) has had meeting with health insurance stakeholders, comprising of the National Health Insurance Agency(NHIA) and some Health Management Organisations(HMOs) on the possibility of procuring this cover for subscribers of the scheme.
Hence, the cost of the annual basic health cover which is about N15,000 per individual, according to findings, would be incurred by PenCom, hence, subscribers will not have to pay for this coverage.
With subscriptions of MPP foot-dragging, the pension industry regulatory body in conjunction with pension fund operators felt there is the need to include health insurance as a form of inducement to persuade more informal sector players to join the plan.
Speaking to journalists during the Special Day event of PenCom on the sideline of the Lagos International Trade Fair at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island, Lagos at the weekend, the acting director general of PenCom, Ms. Omolora Oloworaran, said, the event was a medium to enhance awareness and sensitisation of the Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) as well as micro pension scheme in a bid to woo more people and businesses to join the scheme.
Oloworaran, who was represented by the zonal head, PenCom, Southwest zonal office, Akinsola Adeseun, assured retirees and prospective retirees that they would be paid as and when due as the scheme is fully funded by both the employer and employee.
“The employer and employee both contribute. The employer contributes 10 per cent, while the employee contributes a minimum 8 per cent, making 18 per cent all together, and this goes into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) of the workers so that when they are retiring, the money is already invested, and it is ready for them to be taken out as their pensions at retirement,” he said.
On his part, the head of micro pension department, PenCom, Dr. Babatunde Alayande, explained that, Micro Pension Plan is not just for the informal sector, but also for self employed professionals such as the self employed lawyers, town planners, engineers, among others.
PenCom, he said, will intensify its awareness and sensitisation programmes on micro pension, adding that, “part of what the commission is looking at is the need to modify the name, micro pension, so that everybody will know that this is beyond informal sector. The commission is working assiduously to make sure that there are incentives for people participating in this micro pension plan, especially, incentives for the informal sector.”