Hospital insurance benefits increased for civil servants
Union of Kenya Civil Servants Secretary-General Tom Odege addresses a past press conference in Nairobi. With him is Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion. FILE PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI |
What you need to know:
- Union threatened not to sign contract for scheme unless rates were revised.
- Workers in some job grades will have unlimited medical cover at hospitals they have selected.
The National Hospital Insurance Fund has increased benefits for civil servants under the Sh4.5 billion health scheme.
The fund has also listed benefits for other contributors.
Public servants in groups A to L, those in job grades SL 1-2 at the State Law Office and job grades PG-1-7 in the disciplined forces will have unlimited medical cover at the hospitals they have selected for inpatient and outpatient services.
Inpatient limit for civil servants be between Sh1.1 million and Sh2 million. These are those in job groups M to T including those from the State Law Office and the disciplined forces.
The outpatient cover moves up from Sh80,000 in 2014 to Sh150,000 for those in lower job groups and Sh350,000 for those in the upper groups.
The outpatient deal compares very well with many private medical schemes, the hospital insurance fund but limits to low-rated private, mission and public hospitals with average quality of services.
SIGNIFICANT INCREASE
The fund has also enormously increased the group life cover for civil servants in job groups A to G from Sh200,000 to Sh600,000. The funeral expense will rise from Sh40,000 to Sh100,000.
Those in groups J and T and similar grades at the State Law Office and the disciplined forces will get between Sh600,000 and Sh1,500,000 for group life cover, with Sh100,000 to Sh300,000 set aside for the funeral cover.
There is also a significant increase from Sh10,000 to Sh40,000 for dental cover and Sh50,000 for optical cover. “The cover will include pressure stockings, hearing aids, drug and substance abuse, renal trauma and cancer medical care and treatment services,” said chief executive Simon ole Kirgotty.
Union of Kenya Civil Servants Secretary-General Tom Odege had threatened that the union would not sign the contract unless the new rates were negotiated.
The union’s chairman, Mr Noah Rotich, insisted that civil servants would rather get back their allowances.
“Some of the hospitals they want our members to go to are so poorly equipped that it would be a waste of money to go there,” he said.
