The Cabinet agreed to repeal the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and replace it with three separate funds. This comes after scandals followed the funding model and the Health Cabinet Secretary, Susan Nakhumicha admitted the existence of cartels and corruption in the agency.
The three funds will be known as the Primary Healthcare Fund, the Social Health Insurance Fund and the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund. This model is aimed at ensuring citizens receive universal healthcare coverage, which is part of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s objective.
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Primary Healthcare Fund
This fund will be funded by the national government through the exchequer which would enhance universal healthcare. The parliament will be required to pass the Primary Health Care Bill, in 2023. It will provide areas that the government will deal with directly as the citizens seek healthcare.
This fund is aimed at key services that most citizens may need. This includes maternal care, neonatal care and child health services. The primary healthcare fund would be provided for, community services, dispensaries and clinics, health centres and maternal homes and nursing homes.
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Social Health Insurance Fund
The Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023 is aimed at taking over the functions of the NHIF and run them differently. It aims at protecting all population groups against financial risks due to illness through a monthly premium.
Currently, under the NHIF, citizens who are unemployed, remit Ksh 500 every month for them to access healthcare services. President William Ruto, who chaired the Cabinet meeting, proposed slashing the monthly payment to Ksh 300.
Besides every other citizen, the fund would provide insurance services to other civil servants including the Police and the National Youth Service. The government aims to add more agencies to the fund so as to enhance its capacity since more people will be paying for it. The fund will focus solely on social insurance for Kenyans.
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Chronic and Critical Illness Fund
This fund will be directed to helping citizens dealing with critical illnesses like cancer. In a statement made by the President, cancer treatment is impoverishing households due to the high costs of treatments.
Many families have been seen selling large tracts of land just to pay off bills that have accumulated at hospitals. Some even go to the extent of calling a harambee to help raise the funds required to clear the bill. There have been worse situations where patients are not discharged due to the large amount that is due to be completed.
Currently, there are families that opt to seek treatment overseas due to the high cost of local treatment. Furthermore, many families with cancer patients have been seen calling for harambees so that they could take the patient for treatment in India.
With the NHIF fund, most citizens are left stranded especially when diagnosed with critical illnesses. The medications are too expensive for families and equally, the treatment is not covered by the Insurance Fund. Worse off, when one is admitted to a hospital for testing and all those processes, the NHIF fund mostly covers the bed and not the treatments.
This fund would be targeted towards the treatment of critical and chronic illnesses. Kenyans would then access better healthcare with a better financing option. This would significantly lower their financial burden and reduce the growing increase of people living below the poverty line.
Though the government’s decision is directed at universal healthcare for all citizens, a few Kenyans are not for the idea. Some still question whether the disbanding of NHIF would ensure there’s no corruption in the three funds created.
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