Flows that dropped NHIF from Teachers cover

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia on Tuesday, February 14, stated that the contract signed between the commission and the insurance provider Minet was a result of a directive given by the National Treasury.

Speaking before the education committee, Dr Macharia stated that despite a demand by teachers to be registered under the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), Treasury instructed them to advertise for the tender.

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She further noted that the move ordered by treasury, was to cause them to refrain from asking for more money for the medical cover.

Moreover, Macharia claimed that the Attorney General gave his approval for the move adding that TSC also conducted a proper survey.

“We tried to ask for money to register our teachers under NHIF, which is what the teachers want. However, we were told by the national treasury to advertise and that is what we did.

“We were also told by the national treasury to not ask for any money and that is how we ended up tendering the contract,” Macharia stated.

In addition, the CEO clarified that the money paid to the insurance provider, totalling to Ksh14.9 billion, was meant for only a year, and the renewal would depend on the performance of the contract and the availability of funds.

She explained that the commission did not pay the full amount for the three years to allow for the review of the services provided.

“If there is enough ground for the contract to be terminated, it will be done after one year.

“The AG would not have allowed us to get into the contract if he knew it was bad and that we could not get out of it,” Macharia stated.

Macharia further noted that there were complaints from a section of teachers about the cover, adding that the new contract had addressed those concerns.

The TSC boss explained that the contract was drafted for three years instead of one, to save on time and resources that would be used for another draft.

Responding to questions of why teachers were not allocated the same amount in their cover, the CEO stated that the system had been in place for a long time and changes had not been made to the policies.

Opposing the move earlier in December 2022, 12 teachers filed a petition seeking to stop the contract between TSC and the medical insurance firm, claiming that many teachers had been forced to pay for their treatment while the insurance firm was paid billions of dollars to provide services.

The petition however, was challenged and dismissed by TSC in December 2022.