If you have been worrying about how to keep your health cover up to date, the Social Health Authority (SHA) says you still have options. The authority has laid out several ways for Kenyans who find it hard to pay their Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) contributions, including paying in instalments and getting government support for those who truly cannot pay.
According to SHA’s Senior Officer for Registration and Compliance, Jacqueline Ngonyo, Kenyans are not all in the same position when it comes to money. Some can comfortably pay the full annual premium in one go. Others cannot manage that lump sum, so they enrol in the Lipa Pole Pole plan and pay small amounts over time. Then there is a third group, the people who cannot even keep up with Lipa Pole Pole. The government has identified many of them as indigents, meaning they are too poor to pay at all.
For workers in formal jobs, the process is simple. Your employer deducts 2.75 per cent of your gross salary every month and sends it to SHA, so you never have to think about it. Informal sector workers and self-employed Kenyans are different. Their contributions are worked out through means testing, which looks at how much you earn and what you can realistically afford. Ngonyo said many households in this group simply cannot pay SHA premiums without help, and she made an appeal to Kenyans who are able to sponsor vulnerable people so they can access healthcare under the scheme.
Even if you cannot afford the premiums, you are not left out. People who cannot pay in full, including those on the Lipa Pole Pole plan, can still get free basic healthcare at Level 1, 2 and 3 public and mission facilities. This cover comes through the Primary Health Fund (PHF), and it includes services offered by Community Health Promoters, who work right in our neighbourhoods.
There is also the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund (ECCIF). This one is for the hard times. It covers medical emergencies, patient stabilisation, and critical or chronic illnesses, including cancer treatment and dialysis. The best part is that you do not need to have been paying contributions to access it.
For the poorest families, the government steps in fully. Households that have been verified as indigent, and individuals with zero income who pass the means test, have their SHA contributions paid by the national government. This means vulnerable Kenyans can keep their health cover without spending a single shilling out of pocket.
