Hi,

the industrial court has seen that the additional premium charge for employees is justifiable? i ask how is it?

if i pay my med premium so that i can get good treatment say at aga khan hispital why should i pay say 1500 toward something that i probably will never be treated in a public hospital.

additionally i think that the addition to the nhif contribution should be voluntary in the sense that they should increase ones contribution to say sh500 then any addition should be voluntarily contributed by oneself.

though a 21 day notice has been given by cotu and paliament has resumed,this is the best time for them to refute that premium!

I thought the higher one earns th higher the tax she's to pay proportionally.
How do they then say that guys earning over 100k pay two thousands.

I felt so sad.

Even if you go on strike and the amount is already deducted.The strike will not help.
My suggestion is they appeal to a higher court so as to prolong the implementation

So now that the rates have gone up, what extra services should we expect from NHIF....and perhaps even of more importance, where?

It is a truly sad day for many but there is always a second side to the story. We should give them (NHIF Board) some benefit of doubt. Just for the record i dont think this increment was justifiable.

Benefit of doubt??? Seriously!? Seems you are not aware of all the scandals associated with NHIF. While at it why not have this fund managed by Kamlesh Pattni? We can also give him the benefit of doubt.

Don't be fooled by anyone! After having 1k - 2k deducted from you net salary every month you will still have to foot your own medical bills. Either that or you end up on the floor at Kenyatta Hospital waiting for help as the doctors pass you by. Hii pesa inaenda directly kwa mifuko ya watu!!!

I think the new rates are fair. To pay sh24k per year for an in- and out-patient cover for a family of six (mum, dad, + 4 kids) is quite cheap. If you doubt it, check out what the private sector is charging.

The problem, I think, comes from two issues:

FIRST: NHIF has not been revising its premiums regularly. So, when they jumped from Sh320pm to Sh2,000, an outcry was only natural. If my memory serves me right, the old rates have been in operation since the day I started working in April 1991 - 19.5 years ago! The jump is only an average 10%pa since then.

SECOND: Since the premiums have been stagnant, the benefits have also not changed by much. But the costs of hospitalisation have moved up with inflation. Therefore; getting sh2,000 per night at Nairobi Hospital while the bill can be sh20k [sh5k for the bed + sh15k for medical and nursing services] seemed ridiculous.

This is the reason why the public doesn't trust NHIF with public money. However; in recent years, the cost of fraudulent bills at NHIF has been comparable to that in the private sector (AAR, Resolution etc)

Now that the courts have refused to stop the increment, we have to wait and see how NHIF manages the funds. Going on strike might not be the best way to solve it.

Most of this "development projects" are never implemented. What is important is how much was actually spent on development in say 2008 - 2009 and how much was actually spent on development projects?

Our government is like an alcoholic who can prepare a very nice budget but end up using most of the money on alcohol. Almost always some money is diverted from development projects to recurrent expenditure. And don't forget every time there is a deficit and we have to borrow money it is always for recurrent expenditure! In 2009 - 2010, do you know how much of our taxes was used on recurrent expenditure? 100%! Development 0%!!!

Here is a link that might answer some of your questions:

Budget Breakdown