National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has abandoned its effort to increase monthly contributions for employees who earn above Sh100,000 thus removing pressure on high earners and their employers.
Following a parliamentary petition protesting the proposed rise in monthly contributions for top earners, this State-backed health insurer company agreed to maintain the same monthly prices.
The employees who earn more than kSh100,000 per month were required to contribute a total of 1.7 percent of their gross wages to the fund, according to earlier announcement on new regulations from the NHIF.
This percentage represented a change from the current system, under which employees earning above Sh100,000 make a fixed monthly contribution to the NHIF of Sh1,700.
Also the contributions of workers earning Sh200,000 could have been doubled to Sh3,400 if the regulations were adopted while the burden of those on Sh500,000 was to increase five times to Sh8,500 per month.
The numerous lobbies led by the Kenya Healthcare Federation (KHF) opposed the planned increase, indicating that premiums should be pegged on factors like age, past medical history, occupation as well as smoking habits.
Theose employers who have not provided a superior private insurance cover will be expected to match the workers’ monthly contributions to the NHIF which are a major set back to firms that are yet to recover from the coronavirus-induced slump that triggered job cuts hiring freezes as well as business closures.
