National Hospital Insurance Fund law could be amended to end controversy

The National Assembly may soon amend the National Hospital Insurance Act to enable contributions to be deducted from the basic pay, rather than the total income.

This is among the raft of measures agreed between the National Assembly Health Committee and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) officials in a bid to end the controversy over the implementation of the new rates.

This emerged after the two bodies met in Mombasa several days ago following strong opposition to deductions on total pay from key stakeholders, including the Kenya Post Primary Education Teachers, Federation of Kenya Employers and University Academic Staff Union.

NHIF Board Chairperson Mohammud Ali said the NHIF Act as it currently stands requires them to make deductions based on 'total income',  whether derived from salaried or self-employment.

"The NHIF board has no power to change the law. We can only operate with the law we have. That is why we engaged the Health Committee to look into this issue and make necessary changes to the law," he said.

He added: "We are keen to resolve all outstanding issues that stakeholders may have so that we can move ahead with the implementation of the new rates."

According to a communiqué of the meeting, Health Committee Chairperson Rachel Nyamai said they will set up a technical committee in consultation with other stakeholders to look into the provision of the NHIF Act, with a view of identifying possible areas for amendment.