President William Ruto has asked all parents to ensure that their children are registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA) by the time schools reopen in January 2025.
Speaking on Thursday, December 12 during the Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi, the Head of State tasked parents to accompany their children to school on the reopening day so that they ensure that they are registered.
According to Ruto, every Kenyan child is required to register with the newly rolled out health insurance cover, dubbed Taifa Care, which was rebranded by the Kenya Kwanza government from its premier national health insurance cover Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).
“You have heard what we are doing in the health sector. I want to ask all parents that in January, when our children will be going back to school, Taifa Care requires every Kenyan child to have health insurance.
“When you take back your children to school, we want every parent to accompany their child so that we can register all learners so that we can plan their health matters,” President Ruto remarked.
Ruto, in his speech, also affirmed that Taifa Care ensures healthcare access to all registered Kenyans without any discrimination.
“Under Taifa Care, our inclusive, universal, efficient, and transparent healthcare service model, we are implementing a transition on an unprecedented scale. We have successfully transitioned 5.6 million citizens from the National Health Insurance Fund and registered 11 million Kenyans under the Social Health Insurance Fund,” Ruto stated.
He added, “Taifa Care ensures healthcare access for all registered citizens without discrimination of any kind. The program has accurately determined the cost of each healthcare service and product, ring-fenced resources for equipment and facility improvements, and leveraged digital technology to radically enhance the management, coordination, and delivery of healthcare, promoting efficiency, transparency, inclusivity, and sustainability.”
Ruto also commended Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Bomet, Embu, and Lamu, the five leading counties so far in Taifa care registration. At the same time, he encouraged the people of Marsabit, Garissa, Mandera, West Pokot, and Turkana counties to mobilise, register, and take advantage of the benefits of this transformative programme.
The rebranding to Taifa Care was abrupt, becoming public only during President William Ruto’s State of the Nation address in Parliament on Thursday last week. SHIF, administered by the Social Health Insurance Authority (SHA) replaced the old National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) effective October 1, 2024.
During his address, the third since ascending to power on September 13, 2022, Ruto repeatedly referred to SHIF as Taifa Care, leaving many wondering when the rebranding went down. Throughout his speech, not once did the President mention SHIF about the new cover touted as the best vehicle to deliver Universal Health Coverage.
“Despite serving a limited class of citizens, NHIF nevertheless accumulated billions of shillings of debt because of misalignment between contributions and the actual cost of healthcare,” Ruto said, adding “Taifa Care has undertaken an accurate costing of all healthcare-related goods and services, to provide timely, effective and efficient service to everyone.”
The plea to parents to ensure their children register for SHIF might bring him into another collision course with the courts, which had in mid-September this year, via the High Court, blocked the directive that all parents ensure that their school-going children are registered under the scheme.
The conservatory order was put in place until the court ruled on a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). LSK in its argument told the court that the directive issued by the Ministries of Education and Health, and the Attorney General was unlawful.
According to an internal memo sent to County Directors of Education and Regional Directors of Education issued on August 22, Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang directed that all school-going children must be registered as dependents of their parents before the start of the third school term.
“I have considered the applicant’s application dated 17 September 2024 filed under a certificate of urgency of even date. I am satisfied that the application is urgent and it is so certified. Leave is granted for the applicant to file a substantive motion for judicial review reliefs in terms of prayers 2(a) and (b) of the chamber summons,” the orders by Justice Jairus Ngaah, who certified the LSK’s case as urgent, read in part.
“The motion shall be filed and served within 7 days of the date of this ruling. The respondents shall file and serve their response to the motion within 7 days of the date of service of the applicant’s motion. The motion shall be heard inter partes on 8 September 2024.”
By ViralTea