Teachers and other civil servants have a reason to smile amidst hard economic times after the government’s move to address several challenges facing the comprehensive medical insurance scheme via the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
“All civil servants in job groups A-K who have been on the capitation model since 2012 have been placed on fee-for-service and assigned thresholds”, The Public Service Principal Secretary Mary Kimonye said.
According to the circular civil servants in the job group, A-K who form the majority of the workforce and their dependents shall access both inpatient and outpatient services in any of the NHIF recognised health facilities from any point in the country. This will also include dental and optical services.
The circular also stated that the paid civil servants in job groups A-G will be covered up to Sh700,000 for inpatients while the highest cadre in Job group Q, R, S and T will be covered up to Sh 2.5 million and Sh70,000 and Sh350, 000 respectively for outpatient services.
Kimonye also instructed NHIF to conduct biometric registration of principal members to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery by the scheme. Registration of beneficiaries shall be done continuously at the point of service.
The new changes in the scheme will take effect in July and runs up to 30th June 2022.
Yesterday (15th August 2021), Jerry Ole Kina (the Kenya Union of Civil Servants deputy secretary-general) welcomed the move and noted that that is the way to go.
He added that civil servants will now enjoy a fee for service where one will NHIF services from any accredited facility in the country without necessarily having to select a facility but under limited inpatient and outpatient.
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