The decision to move medical insurance coverage for the police and prison personnel from National Hospital Insurance Fund has been challenged in court.
Two petitioners Chrispine Onyango Odhiambo and Henry Shitanda claim that respondents whose employees are public servants and thus mandatory and
statutory contributors to the NHIF have abdicated a well-known medical cover and gone against the law to advertise and issue the tender to private firms.
in December last year, the NPS, KPS and CS Interior jointly advertised a tender on the provision of medical insurance coverage for the members of the police and prisons.
Two addendums were issued.
The second addendum stated that persons eligible to bid in the tender were insurance underwriters, a consortium of insurance underwriters, or public entities.
On December 16 the tender was awarded to a consortium composed of General Insurance Ltd, Britam General Insurance Company Kenya Ltd and Old Mutual General Insurance Ltd at a total of Sh8.7 billion.
The two argue that the respondents do not have the capacity to award the tender to any other provider as Section 15(3) (2A) of the NHIF Act No 1 of 2022 only allows employers other than the National government and County government to seek an exemption from paying NHIF cover for its employees.
“..the award tender MICNG/002/2022-2023 is illegal, has flouted several procurement requirements under the PPRA act, goes against the spirit of article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya was rushed despite protest letter, and was deliberately crafted and executed in the above manner to enable the sharing of the Sh8,699,999,999 of public money among the awarded bidders in collusion with a few individuals to satisfy the interests of a few people thus going against the spirit of the Vision 2030 flagship project which aims to provide universal health coverage to all Kenyas,” reads court papers.
They argue that under the new cover rules and regulations, police officers risk losing benefits as the private insurers have moved to reduce the reimbursement from the previously issued Sh1,500 per person per visit to between Sh650 and Sh1,300 per person per visit thereby effectively looking out most junior police officers from adequate health and making it very expensive.
They now want the court to stop the government from releasing any funds to CIC General Insurance, Britam General Insurance Company and Old Mutual General Insurance Kenya for payment for
services in tender number MICNG002/2022-2023-Provision of medical insurance coverage for the members of the National Police Service and the Kenya prisons service.
They also want the court to stop the government from doing any acts that shall give further effect to the implementation of tender number MICNG/002/2022-2023-Provision of medical insurance coverage for the members of the national police service and the Kenya prisons service.
Justice Hedwig Ong’udi directed the petitioners to serve all the respondents and interested parties with the pleadings within three days.
The judge said the mention of the petition will be on January 17 for further directions.
National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service, Interior Cabinet Secretary, Attorney General have been listed as respondents while NHIF, Cabinet Secretary for health, treasury, PPRA and CIC General Insurance, Britam General Insurance Company and Old Mutual General Insurance Kenya are interested parties.
President William Ruto said Wednesday the provider of comprehensive health insurance coverage has been competitively contracted to ensure all police officers and their families have access to high-quality medical services including mental health and psychosocial support.
