Kenya’s bid to shift more than 360,000 public-school teachers to the new Social Health Authority (SHA) has stalled, after the insurer admitted it does not yet have the country-wide network needed to look after them.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive Nancy Macharia told the National Assembly’s Education Committee that the Commission had approached SHA while wrangling with complaints about its current provider, Minet.
“Last year, when we had issues with Minet, we wanted to move our teachers to SHA. We have always wanted to have our teachers under the national insurer, even during the NHIF days,” she said.
According to Macharia, SHA officials explained in a recent meeting that they would need roughly KSh 37 billion to bring teachers on board—and even with that funding, they could not be ready this year.
The revelation came as MPs grilled the TSC over mounting reports of teachers who struggle to access treatment despite the KSh 20 billion contract signed with Minet. Committee chair Julius Melly recounted the case of one teacher placed in solitary confinement for three months after failing to clear a hospital bill.
“What kind of insurance cover is this? It’s a mongrel; it has no head or tail. You have an insurer, a lead consortium, an administrator, a capitator- it’s a very funny type of insurance. You must get out of this thing,” Melly told Macharia.
Luanda MP Dick Maungu urged the Commission to ease approval delays by clustering teachers by job group or region. “With Bliss Health Care being the master capitator and considering the large number of teachers, it becomes difficult for them to handle approvals in time – and that’s where the delays come in,” he said. “Why is it not possible to cluster teachers to narrow it down? Currently, the system is overwhelmed.”
Macharia conceded that limited funds and late disbursements to the insurance consortium have hamstrung the scheme. “If our teachers were to get the best medical services, they need to be fully insured,” she said. “But we are unable to do that because of budgetary constraints. We also need timely disbursements to the consortium, because most times we delay.”
For now, teachers and their families remain in limbo – caught between an under-resourced national insurer and an overstretched private cover many say is already failing them.
