Every Kenyan household will soon make a compulsory Sh500 contribution to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in a bid to enroll all citizens to the Universal Health Care program. – By Gerald Gekara.
In a report by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, each household will pay Sh6,000 annually to be enrolled in a universal health coverage (UHC) scheme.
This would cover all outpatient and inpatient services, including maternity, dialysis, cancer treatment and surgeries.
Ukur Yatani says the planned mandatory NHIF membership for all Kenyans is an upgrade to the current scheme that only covers workers in the formal sector.
“Focus is also on provision of health insurance cover to initially one million households who are vulnerable and unable to meet even that low-cost premium. The identification of these one million households by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, and the counties across the entire country has already begun,” Mr Yatani said.
However, for the families that will not be able to pay the cover, one million poor households will be sponsored by the state at the onset of the UHC scheme.
The proposed law is set to be presented in Parliament within this year. Kenya has prioritised the attainment of UHC by 2022 by expanding the mandate and programs of the NHIF.
The program echoes the Obamacare in the United States, which requires everyone to have a health cover and imposes a tax penalty on those who fail to purchase a health insurance plan.
It, however, offers subsidies to those who cannot afford a plan on their own through tax credits and paying insurance companies to keep their deductibles low.
