Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and the Insurance Regulatory Authority officials are to appear before senators to explain why NHIF and private insurers are not covering Covid-19 patients.
Deputy Speaker Margaret Kamar ordered the Senate Health committee chaired by Trans Nzoia Senator Michael Mbito to summon the officials following concerns insurers are abandoning members.
The lawmakers said it was callous for the national health insurer and the private companies to decline to cater for the medication of members in their hour of need.
“We demand to know why NHIF has declined to meet treatment costs of its members who have been diagnosed with Covid-19,” Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot said.
The lawmaker said many Kenyans with health insurance covers have been detained in hospitals while others forced to fundraise to meet costs.
“The committee should state the official position of the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya with regard to obligations of the NHIF and private insurance companies in meeting treatment costs of their members who have contracted Covid-19,” Cheruiyot said.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said poor Kenyans who struggle to make their monthly contribution to NHIF are the suffering in many hospitals.
“People have been detained. They cannot afford to pay the bills yet every month they pay Sh500 or so to NHIF to cover then when they are sick,” he said.
In March, IRA chief executive Godfrey Kiptum said insurance firms would not cover Covid-19 treatments after the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic.
“The insurers will not be able to offer medical insurance cover for the condition at this moment. The insurers have this category of exclusion properly indicated in the policy documents,” Kiptum said.
However, he said that Kenyan insurers had agreed to continue covering the disease after consultations.
"Following engagement with the insurance companies, Commissioner of Insurance Godfrey Kiptum would like to assure the public that the insurers will continue to provide their services to policyholders affected or infected with the virus,” the authority has said.
Kiptum has said the regulator and industry players were looking into ways to incorporate unexpected health expenses for coverage.
“We are looking at policies that surround exclusion of patients with chronic illnesses, pre-existing conditions and in the event of epidemics,” he said.
