Reduce rates for informal workers, MPs tell NHIF

The National Assembly’s Committee on Health has asked the national health insurer to drop the Sh500 monthly fee for people in the informal sector. The MPs yesterday asked that the amount be reduced to Sh300, saying the Sh500 was expensive for workers without a steady income.

The committee said it was illogical for the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to tell the ‘mama mboga’ (vegetable vendors) and boda boda operators to pay Sh500 every month to cater for their health needs at a time when people in formal employment who earn over Sh100,000 a month pay a maximum of Sh2,000.