The government has changed its stand on when the new Social Health Fund Salary Deductions from July to this month.
According to the Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, the health fund salary deductions will start this month despite an earlier announcement of July.
She further added that the Ministry will gazette the Social Health Insurance Fund regulations on Friday, March 8, to pave the way for employers to factor this in the March payroll.
“Once the regulations are gazetted, they come into effect so that means deductions begin end of March, 2.75 per cent of income.”
This comes after the government through the same ministry announced that the SHIF deductions would start in July after all Kenyans were registered to the new system.
Nakhumicha noted that even though the salary deductions will start in March, the government will need 90 days to prepare for the nationwide rollout of the universal health plan.
This means that even if the salary deductions will start in March, Kenyans will not be able to access the benefits of the insurance scheme until July 2024 when the full rollout is done.
“We need about 3 months to prepare ourselves because we need a digital system to do registration, we need to test it and collect resources. Effective the new financial year which is July, now Kenyans can begin to access services under the Social Health Authority.”
While salaried Kenyans will have their deductions automatically deducted, unemployed Kenyans will be required to make a Ksh300 monthly contribution. They will be provided a platform under which they will make the payments.
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However, Nakhumicha said that should the government ascertain you cannot afford the Ksh300, the amount will be advanced in the form of a loan.
The Health CS said that unlike salaried people, Kenyans working in the informal sector will be required to pay annual premiums instead of monthly in order to access government services.