Health Coverage, Reimagined
ROLE
Product Designer
TIMELINE
Sept 2024 - Apr 2025
TEAM
- •5 Engineers
- •3 UI/UX Designers
- •Project Manager
SKILLS
- •Research, & Features Ideation
- •Design Process & Collaboration
- •Prototyping
OVERVIEW
The State of Coverage
Nigeria’s healthcare coverage landscape remains largely underserved.
- •Less than 10% of Nigerians are covered by any form of health insurance.
- •Over 70% of healthcare spending is out-of-pocket, making access unpredictable and often unaffordable.
- •The majority of coverage is tied to formal employment, leaving a massive informal population without protection.
Also across Africa, the story is similar. Health insurance penetration remains low, with many systems still evolving toward universal coverage. Rising healthcare costs and economic pressures continue to widen the access gap.
This creates a clear disconnect. Access to care isn’t just about availability, it’s about affordability, flexibility, and trust. For many people, traditional health insurance feels: Rigid, Expensive or simply out of reach and when unused, it often feels like money lost rather than value gained.
MyAdvantage was designed to rethink this model.
A pocket-sized health coverage plan built for individuals and families first, and later extended to organizations
- •Flexible coverage users can actually afford
- •A system that fits everyday life, not just emergencies
- •And a cashback model that ensures unused value isn’t lost
Over 90% of Nigerians—more than 190 million people—remain uninsured, with only about 3% to 10% of the population covered by health insurance. Despite the 2022 National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act making coverage mandatory, high out-of-pocket payments (70%) persist, causing significant financial hardship for households. The Guardian Nigeria News
In Nigeria, over 70% of healthcare costs are paid directly by individuals, placing a heavy financial burden on everyday access to care. Across Africa, the average hovers around 50%, while the global benchmark sits below 20%. This gap reveals a clear imbalance in how healthcare is financed. Data from the World Bank and WHO consistently reinforce this disparity.
MARKET RESEARCH
Where We Fit In
The Nigerian healthcare system blends public mandates and private providers, where access is often tied to employment, location, or affordability. While schemes like Lagos State Health Scheme aim to improve coverage, adoption and usability remain inconsistent.
Traditional HMOs mostly serve structured organizations with rigid plans and limited value when unused. For individuals and families, this leaves a gap, coverage exists, but rarely feels flexible, accessible, or rewarding.
We saw an opportunity to rethink this.
MyAdvantage introduced a more adaptive approach:
- •A pocket-sized coverage plan for individuals, families, and organizations
- •Access to verified, nearby pharmacies
- •A cashback model that ensures unused coverage still delivers value
By aligning with existing systems while improving flexibility, we positioned ourselves as a bridge between structured healthcare and everyday users.
CORE FLOWS
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Admin & User Dashboard
On the Admin dashboard, you can see total users, revenue, inactive accounts, and claims being made, all in real time. It also shows where users are coming from, including integrations like Routepay, along with live transactions and ongoing consultations.
On the user side, you can start a consultation, view prescriptions, track your plan, and manage claims easily.
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Consultation
After a consultation, the doctor creates a prescription with notes, treatment plan, and next steps, all visible to the user alongside the status, whether it's completed or awaiting fulfillment.
At the same time, that prescription appears on the admin side, where the team can see the patient's details, medication, and required actions, and move quickly to fulfill it.
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Fulfilment
Once a prescription is created, the fulfillment team can review the patient's details, subscription plan, medical history, prescription notes, and status, all in one place, and take the necessary steps to fulfill it. Once fulfilled, the user is notified and can take the prescription to a pharmacy or have the medication delivered directly to them.
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Claims
Users who complete 12 months without using their cover, can activate a claim for 100% cashback. If they choose to exit earlier within six months, they can initiate a breakout for a fee.
Once triggered, it reflects instantly on the admin side, where the team can review and process each request. On the user end, they can track the status every step of the way until the payout is completed.
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User Management (Admin) & Profile (User)
You can view all users across plans, initiate consultations on their behalf, add notes, treatments, and generate prescriptions that mirror real-world pharmacy slips. Everything needed to manage care lives here. On the user profile, they can update their details, track their subscription, manage auto-renewal, and add dependents under their plan.
LAUNCH & FIRST USAGE
Where It Met People
In an open, community-style setting, we introduced myAdvantage while offering quick health checkups and speaking directly with people about their experiences with health insurance, what they had, what they trusted, and what felt missing.
It became a mix of onboarding, listening, and care.
A chance to see how people responded to the idea in real time, and shape it around what truly mattered to them.
ITERATING WITH INSIGHTS
What We Learned Early
The launch was a strong start. There was real interest, great turnout, and valuable conversations around how people view healthcare and coverage. It felt like both an introduction and a moment of listening to the community.
To understand this better from a brand perspective, I spoke with Emmanuel, who led communications during the launch.
“We had a strong launch, but the pressure to convert too quickly became a challenge.
We moved straight from awareness to conversion, without giving people enough time to build interest or trust, and that affected how leads responded.
On the product side, there was also a gap in perception. While we had backend partnerships in place, users expected a seamless, standalone experience. When that didn't always reflect at the point of care, it created friction and impacted trust.
Looking back, it highlighted two key things, the importance of nurturing users through the journey, and ensuring the experience matches what the brand promises.” Emmanuel Obayomi — Brand & Communications
Those early insights shaped our next move. We expanded beyond individuals into company HMO plans, giving organizations a more flexible option with real value through cashback. At the same time, we aligned with programs like Lagos State Health Scheme, and began exploring partnerships across other states.
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Adding Company HMO
You can view all users across plans, initiate consultations on their behalf, add notes, treatments, and generate prescriptions that mirror real-world pharmacy slips. Everything needed to manage care lives here.
On the user profile, they can update their details, track their subscription, manage auto-renewal, and add dependents under their plan.
THE RESULTS
What It's Becoming
Six months in, we started to see real traction. We onboarded close to 5,000 users, with over 70% coming through the company HMO plan. What began as an extension quickly became a core driver, with six organizations already onboarded and more in progress.
At the same time, individual adoption told a different story. While interest remained, it pushed us to rethink how value is experienced at a personal level, ensuring it feels just as rewarding and sustainable for individuals as it is for organizations.
OFF THE SCREEN THOUGHTS
Designing myAdvantage felt like working at the intersection of care and reality. It pushed me to think beyond features, into impact. How do you build something that genuinely helps people who need it most, while still keeping it sustainable enough to grow? That balance became the real design challenge. What stayed with me is the scale of possibility. Getting this into more hands, especially in places like schools and underserved communities, could change how people experience care entirely.
There's still a lot to figure out, a lot to refine, a lot to build. But it feels like the kind of problem worth staying with.
This project was shaped by more than just design. From product and engineering to marketing, partnerships, and market access, many hands came together to bring this to life.
Grateful to have built this with such a dedicated team.