This archive report was first published on 16 October 2019.
Published on October 16, 2019, thousands of National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) contributors are locked out of medical cover despite remitting their monthly dues.
The NHIF receives between Sh2.8 billion to Sh3.2 billion per month from contributors through mobile money transfers and bank deductions.
However, the NHIF has admitted that it cannot trace the contributors' cash amount of Ksh35 million for one financial year, leaving the affected contributors unable to access any health services with NHIF cards since they are listed as defaulters.
According to Nicodemus Odongo, the acting NHIF Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the unrecognized contributions could be higher since the mentioned amount of Ksh35 million is for one financial year only.
Odongo stated that when contributors use M-Pesa to make payments, some do so with wrong details, and the system cannot apportion it, but they always try to send SMS to the numbers of remitters to visit the nearest NHIF centers to have the anomaly corrected.
He added that it has always been a bother to them when members send money without full details, confirming they have already set a system where any contribution with insufficient details is sent back to the owner immediately.
A number of parliamentarians faulted the national health insurer over negligence and accused it of putting the lives of thousands of Kenyans at risk, claiming it was illegal to withhold members' money without according to them the crucial health service.
