The Renaming Of NHIF Commences

The National Health Insurance Fund is currently being restructured by the Ministry of Health.

CS health On Wednesday, Susan Wafula met with important sector leaders from the fund and the Federation of Kenya Employers.

The National Social Health Insurance Fund (NSHIF) will now be known as the fund as a result of the meeting between the CS, NHIF CEO Peter Kamunyo, board chairperson Michael Kamau, and FKE CEO Jacqueline Mugo. The ministry had hinted at this change last month.

The CS announced intentions to rename the NHIF to the National Social Health Insurance Fund in February (NSHIF).

She claimed that the necessity to prioritize primary and preventive healthcare justified the National Health Insurance Fund’s proposed name change.

“With the NSHIF, we aim to bring these funds together so that they are no longer in silos,” she said. “We have the one for the elderly, the one for orphaned children, Linda Mama, and Edu Afya.

The leadership provided an overview of the strategies and plans for reorganizing NHIF into NSHIF at the conference, which will involve extending the range of services offered and the network of healthcare providers.

This promotes the realization of the Universal Health Coverage strategy and aims to ensure that Kenyans benefit from access to high-quality, reasonably priced healthcare.

The significance of public education and awareness-raising campaigns for making sure Kenyans are aware of the advantages of the new NSHIF was also covered. Furthermore recommended were steps to guarantee that the new NSHIF governance structure effectively represents both companies and employees. The new strategy will guarantee that the fund is more transparent and efficient.

Wafula reaffirmed the government’s resolve to accomplish UHC, which is one of the Big Four Agenda’s top priorities, and reemphasized the need of public-private cooperation in attaining the objective. The Kamunyo and Kamau vowed to collaborate closely with the administration to ensure that the reorganization process was carried out successfully. The CS observed that there are already a number of programs that cater to various populations, and that they should be combined into one sizable fund.

The CS predicts that when all of the different plans are combined, they will provide close to Sh12.6 billion. With this Sh12.6 billion, she explained, “we are now doing the arithmetic to see how much more the government should add so that every single Kenyan can have access to healthcare there.”

The ministry anticipates that the tobacco control fund and a portion of the betting fund will help raise additional revenue for the health program.