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{
    "id": 1092212,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1092212/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kathiani, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Mbui",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1750,
        "legal_name": "Robert Mbui",
        "slug": "robert-mbui"
    },
    "content": "nation because without a healthy populace that is serving the nation, we cannot have much growth. Matters of health are really dire issues. I have heard in the recent past people talk about what the Government can do for them. Sometimes, I think that people have been lied to. The role of the Government is to actually provide social services and infrastructure for the nation to grow. One of the roles the Government needs to play very actively is the provision of healthcare, education and infrastructural development. That is really the role of the Government because it does not have enough money to hand out to the public. The Government has no money of its own. The money that the Government spends comes from the people. This is a very progressive Bill. I have looked at it and seen some areas where, if not carefully handled, we would find the biggest problem in Kenya, which is corruption, rearing its ugly yellow head again. It is very important that we address those matters carefully, so that we do not have a situation of exposure of Kenyans to possible loss of funds. The first issue I have observed is the identification of indigents. Those are the poor who are not able to pay and who are above 18 years of age. They have been told that they must now mandatorily be members of the NHIF. How do we identify them? If we do not specify and be very strict about their identification procedure, it will happen the same way it does every time we have the social protection nets and other ways through which people are supposed to be supported. We need to be very careful and keen on the identification process. It is now mandatory for everyone above the age of 18 years, according to Clause 11, to be a member of the NHIF. Previously, it was very unfortunate when you would look at the figures that were being charged. An unemployed person would pay a minimum of Kshs500 and yet, there were employed people paying much less. The lowest amount was Kshs160. It is something that we need to look into. We need to be careful about the amount of money that the unemployed are supposed to pay. We might make it difficult and almost impossible for them to afford it. After all, when you call them indigents, it means that some of them are unable to afford the cost. The identification of empanelled healthcare providers - and those are the healthcare providers who are able to provide services under the NHIF - also needs to be done very carefully. In the past, we have seen issues of fake claims that some hospitals will attempt to do and inflate bills for patients. Many times, the biggest problem is how those hospitals or the service providers connect with the NHIF. People go to be helped and they cannot even identify themselves as contributors. You give your card and then the hospital or healthcare provider says that they cannot ascertain whether you have actually been contributing. So, we need to find a way in which we can connect directly every single healthcare provider to the NHIF. In fact, the money that the NHIF would spend in those hospitals should purely be for purposes of connection so that any contributor who seeks attention would be cleared without suffering a lot."
}