The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has mounted a crackdown on employers who do not remit their monthly statutory fund.
This exercise aims to seal the gaps in revenue collection to ensure that the funds run uninterrupted.
NHIF acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr Sam Kuhora says the three weeks exercise targets to collect Ksh 712 million in remittance out of Ksh 1.07 billion which is yet to be paid by employers.
Speaking at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu during a consultative meeting with the Central Organisation of Trade Union (COTU) officials, Dr Kuhora said the move will help clear pending bills and ensure NHIF beneficiaries continue to enjoy services at all the accredited facilities.
According to Dr Kuhora, 64pc of the national insurer’s revenue comes from workers adding that measures have been put in place to seal loopholes affecting collections.
“We have had engagements with them through the Kenya Health Care Federation and briefed them on the status of payments and the challenges affecting the process,” said Dr Kuhora.
The NHIF was saddened by the reports of beneficiaries being denied services due to pending bills.
Dr Kuhora said this was a violation of contractual provisions the insurer has with the facilities assuring them that all the pending bills will be cleared.
He further added that employer compliance remained the biggest challenge affecting revenue collections with medical fraud.
COTU Secretary General Dr Francis Atwoli has said corruption has remained the biggest challenge in service delivery.
He further called on NHIF to crack the whip on corruption to safeguard employee’s contributions.
He asked for an audit of the accredited health facilities to ensure that only those that meet the threshold are allowed to operate.
Sally Namuye
