NHIF CARDS TO BE PHASED OUT.

The government will phase out the mandatory use of the NHIF cards.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said this will happen when Universal Health Coverage is rolled out nationally next year.

“When the national UHC is rolled out, Kenyans will not need to carry their NHIF cards to access services as the system will be biometric,” he said.

The National Hospital Insurance Fund has installed biometric systems in many facilities but the cards are widely shared fraudulently by people who have not paid premiums.

Currently, only about 19 per cent of Kenyans have some form of health insurance and as a result, approximately one million Kenyans are plunged into poverty every year due to catastrophic health expenditures.

Kagwe said 21,000 persons who are unable to buy insurance are currently being registered in every county at the government’s cost.

“A couple of counties have registered. No county wanted to be part of NHIF six months ago, but they are trying to come back.”

The ministry says it aims at reducing out-of-pocket expenditure from 32 per cent to 20 per cent of household expenditure annually by 2022. Such expenditure is mainly driven by poor insurance coverage.

The UHC plan is to raise NHIF membership to 100 per cent by 2022.

Kagwe said nobody has a perfect health cover structure and UHC is “an opportunity to provide as good a healthcare system as is possible.”

• 

According to the latest UHC brief by the ministry, the government will also put up more dispensaries to achieve the goal of placing people five kilometres radius to a health facility.

Currently, according to the ministry, 91 per cent of people have a health facility within the radius, thanks to investments by the counties and through the Constituency Development Fund. The goal is to raise such access to 100 per cent by 2022.

The government piloted a fully state-funded UHC scheme in four counties last year but was found to be unsustainable.

The pilot, launched in December 2018 in Machakos, Nyeri, Kisumu and Isiolo, cost Sh3.17 billion targeting 3.2 million Kenyans.

In the new-look UHC, Kenyans will be required to pay Sh500 every month to the NHIF to enjoy health services next year.

Acting director-general for health Patrick Amoth said the Sh500 monthly contribution  – or Sh6,000 annually – will be mandatory for all Kenyans, whether one is employed or jobless.

It will cover one nuclear family, being at most two parents and children under 18 years. Dependants can also be covered through their parents up to 24 years if they are in school, or lifetime if they are severely disabled.

Source: The Star