Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga now says that the country should not go back to the old health insurance system, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
According to Wanga, much focus should be put on strengthening the newly introduced Social Health Authority (SHA).
Wanga insisted that there are only a few gaps in SHA that need fixing and that Kenya can have the best Universal Health Care system for the first time.
She said that the only two areas that need fixing under SHA are reimbursement and the many service outages.
The Governor insisted that those who want a return to the NHIF system do not understand how the SHA has expanded access to many Kenyans.
“People just say bring back NHIF, but remember when we had it, only 6% of Homa Bay people were able to access treatment, now we have 40%. There were a lot of shenanigans at the back, and we had an enquiry in parliament about the number of fictitious claims that were being laid out.
“If you asked me, should we bring back NHIF, I'd say no. Should we fix the gaps in SHA, which would lead to reimbursement in time and system downtime? I’d say a big yes. Let us fix places where there are problems. SHA is now reimbursing every two weeks, it’s only that the old debts are not being serviced in good time,” Wanga said.
The Homa Bay Governor noted that new systems always have shortfalls that may need fixing to become perfect.
“Any new system will have gaps, fix them and communicate it and we will have the most revolutionary system we've ever looked for as a country.”
Wanga’s remarks come a day after President William Ruto also assured Kenyans that SHA will work.
Speaking during a church service at Jesus Winner Ministry, Roysambu, Ruto said that it may take some time to be perfect, but assured Kenyans that it will work.
He said the former administrations tried implementing the Universal Health Care program but failed.
He affirmed that this time around, the programme will succeed.
“SHA is the biggest programme we have in the Republic of Kenya. Maybe it will take time to be perfect, but believe you me, it is going to work. We have tried, we tried as Jubilee but failed, but this time around, we will succeed,” Ruto said.
He said the health insurance scheme seeks to ensure that every Kenyan, irrespective of financial background, has medical cover.
In the past, he noted, health insurance was only available to those who were in employment or had the means to pay.
