EDITORIAL: Affordable healthcare lies in reforming NHIF

Editorials

EDITORIAL: Affordable healthcare lies in reforming NHIF

Wednesday, September 25, 2019 22:00

By EDITORIAL

Paying for healthcare has been a huge problem for ordinary Kenyans, which may inform the move by the National Assembly to propose changes in the law to make it illegal for a hospital to detain patients and bodies over unpaid bills.

While the proposed change is a natural response to the suffering of the many who have been held as virtual prisoners in wards, it fails to address the root cause of the problem.

Kenya has in place a framework for financing healthcare through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which, under ideal conditions, would ensure that the ugly scenarios of detained patients would not arise.

Lawmakers should make sure that the health insurance is expanded to cover as many Kenyans as is possible, and to ensure that it is working properly.

Granted, strides have been made in reforming the NHIF, which is also enjoying higher contributions from Kenyans, but more needs to be done.

Only last week, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) disclosed writing to the Ministry of Health, asking for an upward review of bed rates offered by NHIF, and for payment of hundreds of millions the fund owes it, meaning more needs to be done to improve the system.

On top of enhancing the capacity of the NHIF, the ministry must invest in public hospitals that can offer affordable healthcare to a wider section of society. This will prevent the situation where Kenyans are being forced to resort to costly private hospitals, ending up with the ugly detentions tied to bills.

The proposed law as presented, with its blanket amnesty on hospital bill defaulters, is likely to open a Pandora’s Box by demotivating patients and their families from settling their medical services dues. After all, what would be the motivation to pay up if one knows that the hospital would not stop them from going home?

It would be prudent, therefore, for lawmakers to put in place safeguards that will require patients to prove they are unable to pay bills, and define the legal means available to hospitals to recover their dues.

As it stands, the bill leaves open loopholes for abuse that are likely to hurt the ability of hospitals to offer quality healthcare services.