The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has announced that registration and payment for their medical cover package will soon be accessible through mobile phones. According to the country’s official medical cover provider, Kenyans will no longer have to jump through red-taped hoops whilst doing the back-flip and singing the Kenya National anthem in Japanese, in order to sort out their medical expenses. NHIF's move comes hot on the heels of Britam's Linda Jamii mobile phone health insurance product which was launched late last year.

How It Works

The system will allow potential Fund contributors to register for the Fund using their mobile phones. The only thing that must be done manually is visiting the organisation’s offices to collect the NHIF card.

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The system will allow existing members to pay monthly contributions through all of the four mobile money service providers.

Currently, anyone wanting to register for the health insurance scheme is expected to fill in a form which can be found at their headquarters or on the Fund’s official website.

NHIF registers any adult from both the formal and informal sectors. For those in the formal sector, membership is compulsory. For those in the informal sector (including retirees), membership is open and voluntary.

Contributions from formal sector employees are deducted and remitted to the Fund by their employers. This is done by Cheque or through electronic banking. These contributions are made based on their income.

Voluntary contributors pay KES 160 per month (KES.1920 per annum).

Benefits

Some of the benefits of registering with NHIF (both physically and digitally) include an in-patient cover for the contributor, declared spouse and their children and in-patient services in private and high-cost hospitals on a co-payment basis.

The Fund provides a comprehensive medical cover which extends to over 400 accredited government facilities across the country. It also comes with a comprehensive maternity and Caesarean package which is available in government hospitals, several mission hospitals and some private hospitals.

A cover with NHIF includes dialysis at the Kenyatta National Hospital as well as the Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital at a rebate. What’s more, the Fund has a family planning cover which includes procedures such as Vasectomies and Tubal Ligation.

Perhaps one of the biggest perks of the cover is the fact that, when it comes to treatment, NHIF does not exclude any disease.

NHIF plans to start setting up the framework for Mobile Revenue Collection Payments as well as a Registration Platform as soon as it secures some developers by February 12^th, 2013.