The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has issued fresh regulations where workers earning more than ksh.100,000 will have to pay 1.7 percent more of their monthly earnings.
Workers earning Ksh.200,000 will now have to pay Ksh.3,400 more, while those earning Ksh.500,000 will pay Ksh.8,500 more.
Further employers who will have not provided private insurance coverage will be expected to forward their employees’ monthly contribution.
This comes as companies are still struggling to recover from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Employees had previously rejected the proposal to match workers’ monthly dues to NHIF stating that it would likely affect the wage bill and the ability of businesses to remain stable and creating more job opportunities.
“I do not think that this is right and justifiable, and it will increase the cost of business. Allowances are part of the gross pay and are not fixed and so this means that it will just be too big of a cost to the employers”, said Jacqueline Mugo, the Chief Executive of the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE).”
NHIF made Ksh.61.5 billion from employees in 2021, making it one of the biggest earning firm in the country.
Should MPs pass new regulation, would see the body increase its revenue bracket into extra billions.
Informal workers have been granted the choice to drop or sustain nhif membership with their fee remaining at ksh.500.
Fresh regulations will, however, require every adult to contribute to the fund whether employed or not.
Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows that Kenya has 79,909 employees earning Ksh.100,000 rating to three percent of the 2.74 percent of the formal workforce.
In a report by Business Daily, NHIF had 8.898 million members as per the end of June, 4.546 million from the informal sector and 4.452 in the formal sector.
The firm had 10.6 million members by the end of June but 5.7 percent stopped paying their dues by August due to the pandemic, with the firm revealing it cut benefits from renal dialysis, major surgeries and diagnostic tests by Ksh.2.9 billion.
