This archive report was first published on 17 October 2019.
Published on October 17, 2019, a scandal is brewing at the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) over M-Pesa contributions. Acting NHIF CEO Nicodemus Odongo claimed that details of Kenyans contributing for the NHIF cover through M-Pesa could not reflect in the insurer’s system.
Odongo explained that contributors had used wrong details, affecting their membership accounts status. This means that thousands of Kenyans risk being locked out by the insurer when they need medical attention.
Effectively, the contributors are not covered by NHIF and cannot access health services through the NHIF cards. The national insurer collects amounts ranging from Ksh2.8 billion to Ksh3.2 billion in member contributions.
According to the Daily Nation, the insurer collected Ksh35 million in the year to June 2018. The paper estimates that 70,000 people are affected by the M-Pesa transactions problem. If these members have been contributing loyally so far, it means that the insurer cannot account for Ksh350,000,000 for the 10 months this year.
While Odongo assured that the money is not lost, he claimed that it had not been reconciled to the contributors’ accounts. The MPs questioned why NHIF had not surrendered the money to the Unclaimed Assets Authority (UFAA), saying there was a need for the Auditor-General to appraise the NHIF account.
The immediate former Auditor General Edward Ouko had spotlighted gaps in NHIF accounts in his 2017/2018 audit report. PIC is meeting the NHIF team today to conclude matter regarding the audit queries and members contributions.
