The government is in discussion with mobile money service providers to deduct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) contributions directly from your mobile wallet, for instance, M-Pesa.
This was revealed by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe who spoke to The Star, revealing that talks were in advanced stages and soon the matter will be announced publicly.
“We are in discussions with mobile money service providers like Safaricom, so that when you are doing your daily money transactions, they can deduct something from your transactions if you allow them. If you allow them to deduct Sh17 every day from your daily transaction, you wouldn’t even notice it. The money is submitted to NHIF and by the time you realise, your cover is in place,” said Kagwe.
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“We have done a lot of work with them, we are in the negotiation stage. In the next couple of days we will be announcing this particular scheme to the Kenyan public. It is a journey, we are journeying in the legislative area, healthcare and infrastructure.”
NHIF rates are based on gross monthly income. The lowest contribution is Ksh150 for incomes up to Ksh5,999, while the highest contributions are at a rate of Ksh1,700 for incomes over Ksh100,000.
Under the newly signed NHIF Amendment Bill 2022, it will be mandatory for all Kenyans to contribute to the public health insurance scheme.
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The total gross premiums for health insurance industry in Kenya is Ksh54 billion, of which, Ksh28.5 billion is paid to NHIF and the balance to private insurance.
The number of people who have subscribed to NHIF has increased from 4 million in 2014 to over 13.9 million principal members.
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