NHIF Repeal: Kenyans Worried About Implications Of Cabinet Move To Replace Fund With 3 Others

• The Cabinet has approved four healthcare bills that will be passed to parliament for debate and approval or dismissal
• If the four bills approved by the Cabinet become law, the National Health Insurance Fund created in 1966 will be divided into three separate funds
• The announcement by the Cabinet has raised eyebrows among Kenyans who debated on possible implications of the move by the Kenya Kwanza administration

A Cabinet Despatch on Tuesday, August 29, indicated that the Cabinet had approved four healthcare bills.

NHIF on the verge of extinction

The implications of approval of the four bills, namely, The Primary Health Care Bill, 2023; The Digital Health Bill, 2023; The Facility Improvement Financing Bill, 2023 and The Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023, mean that the National Health Insurance Fund will be repealed.

In the place of NHIF, therefore, there shall be established the Primary Healthcare Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund and Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Bill.

"In honour of the administration’s pledge to accelerate Kenya’s attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as set out within the Administration’s plan for a healthier nation espoused under the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), Cabinet considered and approved crucial Bills that promote healthcare, for transmission to parliament," read the despatch.

When was NHIF established?

According to the Cabinet, the bills will usher in a paradigm in the legal and institutional framework of healthcare in Kenya.

The digital Bill will address the existing legal and regulatory gaps in the framework for the e-health ecosystem and its data lifecycle.

This is aimed at enabling the development of standards towards the provision of m-health, telemedicine and e-learning in healthcare.

These developments left many Kenyans with questions on what the move by Cabinet meant even as the Bills are set to proceed to Parliament for debate and approval or dismissal.

They wondered what the repealing of NHIF, a State Parastatal that was established in 1966 as a department under the Ministry of Health, means to healthcare in the country and their contribution as beneficiaries of medical cover.

NHIF deductions contributions and benefits

Linda Oguttu said she did not understand what repealing of NHIF meant and sought for explanations, highlighting the confusion many Kenyans had been thrown into.

"Cabinet Despatch. Someone please explain the health Funds...imenipita kidogo. Hapo kwa NHIF (I have not understood the NHIF part)," said the senior journalist.

Other Kenyans said that the possible introduction of the three funds would mean more deductions for each service, doubting the Kenya Kwanza's assurance that the move will ensure the most vulnerable in the community will also enjoy healthcare cover.

"So we will be deducted three times?" Wilberforce Ondato questioned.

Arthur Nixon said that the move likely meant that as NHIF was repealed, the government was establishing three different parastatals, which meant more wages and operation costs.

"Meaning three different parastatals?" he posed.

Alexus differed with the move saying the government had chosen to create more new funds instead of making the existing one efficient.

"Transferring mismanagement instead of streamlining current fund which uses bulk of collections for administrative purposes," said Alexus.

Those echoing his sentiments said that the government had failed to account for losses and plundering of public funds that allegedly happened in NHIF and was creating new funds to escape from accountability queries.

This comes just a day after NHIF announced major changes that will see the realignment and reorganisation of regional and branch managers.