NHIF lures KUPPET Teachers with Medical Cover

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) national chairman Omboko Milemba. The cover that NHIF is offering to KUPPET is the one that is covering civil servants and members of the disciplined forces, whose benefits were revised upwards last week. 
(PHOTO: COURTESY)

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has heightened its charm offensive to win over 58,000 teachers under the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) from rival private insurer, AoN Kenya.

NHIF has entered negotiations with KUPPET arguing that its members will get a better deal than those under its rival Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) which signed up a Sh5.6 billion medical cover offered by AoN Kenya.

NHIF yesterday published enhanced benefits that would be enjoyed by KUPPET teachers, arguing that it is far more superior to the benefits offered to their KNUT counterparts by AoN.

The cover being offered to KUPPET is the one that is covering civil servants and members of the disciplined forces, whose benefits were revised upwards last week.

A proposal sent to KUPPET by NHIF even compared the various benefits between NHIF and AoN including outpatient, in-patient, dental, optical, group life and last expense complete with the differences between the two.

This development is expected to further heighten debate among teachers regarding which of the two medical covers is superior in meeting their needs.

 “Teachers under KUPPET would have more benefits under NHIF while contributing less money. I guarantee that they would be envied by their counterparts in KNUT which went for the Aon cover,” claimed NHIF Board Chair Mohamud Ali yesterday.

For inpatient, the lowest job groups gets Sh300,000 under AoN and unlimited cover under NHIF. For the highest job groups, AoN gives Sh1 million cover annually while NHIF offers Sh2.5 million.

For the outpatient cover, both Aon and NHIF over unlimited cover for the lowest job groups but for the highest job groups, NHIF offers Sh350,000 while AoN cover is still unlimited.

For Dental cover, Aon offers between Sh10,000 and sh20,000 annually between the lowest and highest job groups while NHIF  offers Sh50,000 for all job groups.

Regarding optical cover, Aon offers between Sh10,000 and Sh20,000 between the lowest and highest job groups while NHIF offers Sh40,000 for all the job groups.

For Life cover, AoN offers teachers between Sh300,000 and Sh700,000 between the lowest and highest job groups while NHIF offers between Sh600,000 and Sh1.5 million.

For last expense, AoN offers Sh100,000 for all the job groups while NHIF offers between Sh100,000 and Sh300,000 depending on the job group.

KUPPET went to court to stop the implementation of the AoN cover on KUPPET members which begun operations last week. NHIF has therefore heightened its efforts on KUPPET members to win them over from taking the AoN cover and instead sign up to NHIF. On Sunday, KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori expressed dissatisfaction with the AoN cover saying only sketchy details about it have been provided by the insurer.

In addition, he argued that AoN will take the entire monthly medical allowance for teachers, compared to the NHIF cover which takes only half of it. Teachers get between Sh950 and Sh4000 monthly as medical allowance depending on job groups.

NHIF is also hoping to win over teachers under KNUT down the line since their cover with Aon is coming up for renewal next July when teachers will decide whether they want to continue with it or not.

The NHIF Board chair announced that teachers within certain jobs would access all the high-end private hospitals in the country while the rest will have medium-cost ones to access their treatment.