SHIF: Govt Wants Unemployed Kenyans At Age 25 To Pay Ksh300 Monthly

Should you as a Kenyan attain the age of 25 years and are without a job, you will be required to pay Ksh300 per month, according to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) regulations, 2023.

According to the regulations, a person, who has attained the age of 25 years and has no income of his or her own or is living with the contributor shall be treated as a household separate from the contributor.

In simple terms, if a graduate happens to live with someone contributing to the SHIF, for instance, his or her parents, and has attained the age of 25 years, he or she will still have to remit the Ksh300 monthly contributions to the government.

To ensure this is realised, the Ministry of Health will collect data from households for the purposes of conducting proxy means testing.

"The Authority shall use the means testing instrument developed by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Ministry responsible for social protection and the county governments.

"The data collected from households shall be based on various socio-economic aspects including housing characteristics, access to basic services, household composition and characteristics; and any other socio-economic aspects as may be relevant," the regulations read in part.

The data collected shall be used to determine and estimate the household income for the purposes of the payment of the premiums targeting not just Kenyans who attain age 25 and are unemployed but everyone else who is unemployed.

For households whose income does not come from salaried employment, they will be mandated to pay an annual contribution to SHIF at a rate of 2.75 per cent of the proportion of household income as determined by the means testing instrument in the manner prescribed earlier.

"The amount payable every month shall not, in any case, be less than Kenya shillings three hundred (Ksh300) per month. The amount payable shall be paid 14 days before the lapse of the annual contribution of the beneficiary," the regulations added.

However, the Social Health Insurance Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development and other financing institutions, shall provide premium financing to non-salaried persons to enable them to pay their annual contributions within the intervals under which their income becomes available.

SHIF shall use the means testing instrument to identify the indigent households that require financial assistance and for whom the National Government or the County Government is liable to pay their contributions according to the Social Health Insurance Act.

"The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Protection and the county governments shall identify the households that require financial assistance and submit the list of such households to the Authority," added the regulations.

The Social Health Insurance Act 2023 was signed into law by President William Ruto on the eve of Mashjaa day and contained three bills, one of which seeks to abolish the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) officially for the first time since 1966.

By revoking NHIF and replacing it, President Ruto seeks to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as set out within his plan for a healthier nation espoused under the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

The Social Health Bill was to enable all Kenyans to access quality care, regardless of their financial status. Kenyans employed in the formal sector were to make a monthly contribution of 2.75 per cent of their salary capped at a minimum of Ksh300 and a maximum of Ksh5,000.

However, the High Court suspended the planned implementation of the Act on Monday, November 27, temporarily barring the state from effecting the three new funds gazetted by Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha pending the determination of a case lodged in court.