Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha has played down suggestions to have salary deductions for the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) capped at Ksh5,000.
Speaking during a meeting with lawmakers in Nairobi on Tuesday, February 28, the CS explained that setting a limit on the contributions to be made by salaried Kenyans would be retrogressive.
She explained that capping would limit the amount of money the government was eying to collect from Kenyans and in turn affect service delivery.
The CS expounded that the government intended to improve health service delivery with the new plan adding that the efficiency of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has been influenced by the lack of funds.
On the other hand, she detailed that most Kenyans agreed with the government's plan to have high earners pay more for insurance.
"From going across the country, none has given us a suggestion of capping because they can see what it is we are trying to do.
"If we impact by capping we will impact on the expected yield. We will compromise the yield and if we do that we will go back to the issues that we are facing," the CS explained.
CS Nakhumicha made the remarks while responding to queries by the lawmakers on the new salary deductions which are to take effect from July.
A section of the leaders wondered whether the government would adopt capping to ensure that top earners are not affected severely with the new deductions set at 2.75 per cent of the gross income.
Those with income in the informal sector are also expected to have their contributions set at 2.75 per cent of their gross income for the month.
Unemployed Kenyans on the other hand will be paying Ksh300 towards the new government insurance.
Meanwhile, Kenyans are expected to commence registering for the new health insurance as of Friday, March 1. The registration period will span 90 days.
During the registrations, Kenyans will be required to provide their personal information including their Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) in addition to undertaking biometric registration.
