Following gazetted notice by Ministry Of Finance Cabinet Secretary, Ukur Yatani, The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) which is the primary provider of health insurance in Kenya, with a mandate to enable all Kenyans to access quality and affordable health services, has been exempted from contributing to Policy Holder’s compensation Fund, paying insurance premium levy, and training insurance training levy for a whole year.
NHIF is committed to contributing towards universal health coverage in the provision of affordable, accessible, sustainable and quality health insurance through strategic resource pooling and healthcare purchasing in collaboration with stakeholders.
According to provisions of section 179(6) of the Insurance Act, the Ministry of Health requires a monthly contribution to the Policy Holders’ Compensation Fund to be paid by every policy-holder and insurer. On the imposition of Insurance Premium Levy section 197A, provides that the levy shall be payable by every insurer registered and authorized under the Insurance Act to carry on insurance business in Kenya which shall be computed as a percentage of the gross direct premiums written by an insurer or reinsurer. Section 197B also imposes a levy to be known as the insurance training levy to be charged on policy-holders and collected by the insurer.
“In exercise of powers conferred by section 181 of the Insurance Act, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning exempts the National Hospital Insurance Fund (the Fund) from the provisions of section 19, 179(6), 197A and 197B of Insurance Act for purposes of offering enhanced Medical, Group Life and Last Expense Cover for Civil Servants and National Police for a period of one year,” Ukur Yatani, Cabinet Secretary, The National Treasury and Planning.
This directive is aimed at providing enhanced medical cover to civil servants, who make a majority of contributors to this public health coverage system. For the last couple of months, NHIF has been under public scrutiny over mismanagement of public funds.
