Trans Nzoia County Woman Member of Parliament Lilian Chebet Siyoi has called on Kenyans to disregard unfounded claims about the Social Health Authority (SHA), and register with it.
Addressing residents of Bidii ward in Kwanza Constituency, Siyoi said SHA is a game changer in Kenya’s health sector.
“We (Kenya Kwanza administration) campaigned on the platform of lowering the cost of healthcare and that is exactly what SHA will do. Kenyans should disregard lies peddled by anti-government reforms,” the MP said.
Is SHA better than NHIF?
Speaking during a social empowerment programme where she distributed tents to women groups, Siyoi said SHA has more benefits compared with the defunct National Health Insurance Fund NHIF.
“SHA requires every y household to pay Ksh 300 per month unlike NHIF where one had to pay Ksh 500. Again, you could only access services after contributing to the fund for six months. SHA allows you to access medical services immediately you register and pay,” she stated.
Siyoi claimed people who are opposed to the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) have alternative private insurance covers.
“Imagine the person telling you SHA is bad has an insurance cover provided by a private company,” she said.
Allan Chesang worried over low SHA registration
Over the weekend, Trans Nzoia Senator Allan Chesang’ was concerned with the low numbers of people who have registered with SHA.
“My people, if you really love me, kindly register yourself with SHA. I was shocked that we are doing badly as a county as far as registeration is concerned,” Chesang’ said.
SHA which was officially launched on October 1, 2024 has so far registered over 15.2 million Kenyans.
The authority has three funds – Primary Healthcare Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund.
SHA aims to provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare services to all Kenyans.
So far, 8,336 healthcare facilities, (5,210 government-owned, 319 faith-based, and 2,807) have entered into contracts with the Social Health Authority.
