Salaried Kenyans are now lamenting the massive deductions to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), just less than a month after it’s full rollout.
SHIF was introduced as a broader strategy to realize Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and to enhance healthcare coverage, and address the system issues that persisted and plagued the NHIF.
Officially operationalized on October 1st, 2024, under the Social Health Authority (SHA), SHIF has so far registered over 13.5 million Kenyans, according to the information and statement by the ministry of health.
The government of Kenya required all Kenyans to be registered to be able to acquire every sort of treatment, everywhere and in any hospital, which was limited on NHIF.
At the beginning of October 25th, 2024, screen captures of salaried Kenyans sharing their pay slips made rounds on social media platforms. They languished over the heavy deductions, which are capped on gross salary, something that was alien to those used to NHIF.
The shift to SHIF from NHIF introduced new financial obligations for households, with contributions set at 2.75% of gross salaries, expected to be remitted on the 9th day of every month. The minimum contribution for the unemployed or those in the informal sector is Ksh300 per month.
“According to Section 17 [1] of the SHIF Regulations, a household whose income is derived from salaried employment shall pay a monthly statutory deduction contribution to the Social Health Insurance Fund at a rate of 2.75% of the gross salary or wage of the household by the ninth day of each month,” Chief Executive Officer, E.G. Wachira clarified.
Now, this is how the statutory deductions on the gross salary under SHIF on gross salary that ranges between KSH 20,000 to Ksh 1,000,000 going forward;
Gross Pay NHIF(Old Deduction) SHIF(New Deduction)
Ksh20,000 Ksh750 Ksh550
Ksh50,000 Ksh1,200 Khs1,375
Ksh100,000 Ksh1,700 Ksh2,750
Ksh500,000 Ksh1,700 Ksh5,500
Ksh200,000 Ksh1,700 Ksh13,750
Ksh1,000,000 Ksh1,700 Ksh27,500
The government has also argued that the shift was prompted by the need to slit off the endemic graft and mismanage the old system faced. NHIF faced fraudulent allegations amounting to billions of Kenyan shillings and procurement irregularities that severely undermined public trust in the system.
As of late, since its roll out, some Kenyans have come out to criticize the system after some patients failed to get treatment from a section of hospitals, linked to its intermittent response. However, the ministry of health has blamed the issue on a section of hospitals that are yet to onboard their system on SHA.
