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{
    "id": 1344076,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1344076/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu, UDA)",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I beg to move that the Social Health Insurance Bill (National Assembly Bill No.58 of 2023) be now read a Second Time. Allow me to begin by thanking the Departmental Committee on Health under the able leadership of the Chairman, Hon. Pukose, and the Vice-Chairman, Hon. Patrick Ntwiga. As mentioned earlier, when I moved the Digital Health Services Bill, this Committee sat through the recess period to listen to many stakeholders. Many of them were interested in this Bill because, in a big way, it changed the management of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) as we know it. Members will appreciate the challenges that have bedevilled NHIF from the days of Clinix Healthcare facilities to the recent times of St. Peter’s Orthopaedic Hospital and other facilities in Meru. Now and then, the Government has had to crack the whip to deal with the Board or Management of NHIF because of issues that touch on corruption. This Bill speaks to matters touching on corruption in the governance and management structure of NHIF. We have had a mongrel of an organisation in NHIF that has grown over the years. Several amendments have been made to the NHIF Act, and many reforms have been effected in the health insurance coverage of Kenyans in order to enhance the capacity of NHIF. Part of these reforms included the upward revision of premiums in this House in 2015, and the expansion of the NHIF benefit package, which previously had only inpatient care. They have now added outpatient care and several other specialised services. Members will also appreciate the care for certain illnesses, like the provision of dialysis services under NHIF and chemotherapy and radiotherapy services that have become payable under NHIF."
}