Uproar Over Text Messages Migrating Kenyans From NHIF To SHA By Force

As the registration for the Social Health Authority (SHA) health insurance scheme crossed 12.6 million on Wednesday, October 2, the day of the official rollout, Kenyans now are an enraged lot after this happened.

A Short Message Service (SMS) text which flashed on the phones of millions of Kenyans revealed that they had their defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) accounts moved to the new scheme.

Viral Tea can also confirm this, with the text message a notification of Kenyans being migrated to SHA, a scheme which has not stopped attracting resistance from members of the public.

"Your NHIF account has been migrated successfully to Social Health Authority. To update your profile dial *147#, visit sha.go.ke or any authorized SHA agent," the message read.

Screenshot of a text message showing the migration of NHIF accounts to SHA as of October 2, 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE

This move however sparked uproar among Kenyans who lamented that the government had forced them into making the transition without their consent.

"NHIF had very different terms of service from SHIF /SHA and migrating people without their Consent is a breach of their data privacy and is illegal. It should be common sense," one Kenyan charged.

The government’s decision to bypass the opt-in process and automatically transfer data has led to accusations of violating individual rights and disregarding transparency. 

To add fuel to the flames, on September 30, SHA through its X account revealed that Kenyans needed to opt in to register with SHA since "your data cannot be transferred without your consent", in response to a user who asked, "If I am already registered with NHIF, do I need to re-register for SHIF, or will my coverage automatically transfer?"

You need to opt-in to register with SHA since your data cannot be transferred without your consent. #SHARollout — Social Health Authority (@_shakenya) September 30, 2024

On Tuesday, nearly 400,000 new registrations were recorded, which brought the total to 12,540,117 subscribers. The transition from NHIF to SHA saw almost 10 million NHIF users automatically enrolled in SHA, according to internal data. 

Meanwhile, Acting SHA CEO Elijah Wachira openly admitted to the botched rollout, citing that claims processing had stalled due to biometric failures, leaving patients in limbo.

His admission of the failure of biometric systems has left many wondering about the future of health coverage under the new regime and with nearly 10 million NHIF users already transferred to SHA, the lingering technical challenges threaten to undermine the credibility of the new scheme.

While speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Health Committee Chairperson Robert Pukose revealed that as of Wednesday, 12,600,800,033 Kenyans had been registered to SHA. He told Parliament, “Out of that, those who are in NHIF are 9,640,640,523 and those who are newly registered are 2,900,323.”

Pukose added, “I can confirm that...you will find that messages are coming to your phone without you even having done anything. You are among those 9.6 million that have been transitioned from NHIF to SHIF through the system without you doing anything after they cleaned the system.”

This latest surprise move followed an earlier declaration by Harry Kimtai, Principal Secretary of the State Department for Medical Services, who revealed that the government planned to migrate 9 million verified NHIF members to SHA.

He explained that, out of the 12 million NHIF members, only 9 million had verifiable documentation, leaving a staggering 3 million members excluded. Initially, the government had assured NHIF members that they must opt in and register for the SHA scheme, but this promise was abruptly overturned, with millions of Kenyans finding themselves automatically enrolled in SHA without their explicit consent. 

“We made a provision within our regulations to migrate the 9 million registered NHIF members to SHA. The data is there, and when they visit hospitals, their biometrics will confirm their identity,” Kimtai explained on Spice FM.

Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura on Wednesday, September 25 assured Kenyans that the registration for the new medical insurance scheme under SHA would be an ongoing process, dispelling rumours of consequences for not registering for SHA by October 1, 2024.