Kenya - Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) to replace National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF)
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The Appellate Court’s recent ruling enables the Government to implement the Social Health Insurance Act no. 16 of 2023. This law replaces the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) with the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).
Effective 01 October 2024, the old NHIF approved benefit packages and rates shall cease to apply as the newly gazetted SHA Benefits and Tarriffs are rolled out to all Kenyans i.e., This will be applied from the October payroll.
Regulation 17(1) of SHI General Regulations further provides that a household whose income is derived from salaried employment shall pay a monthly contribution to the SHIF at the rate of 2.75% of the gross salary or wage, to be remitted by the ninth (9th) day of every month. The contribution may not be less than Ksh 300 per month.
In the case of the employer, the onus is on the employer to deduct SHIF from the employee and pay the contribution to the SHA, even though SHIF is an employee contribution only.
The impact on payroll tax is unknown from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) i.e., whether the employee contribution forms part of the Insurance relief like NHIF.
The Social Heath Authority website (https://sha.go.ke/) will be the primary tool for managing the employees’ SHI contributions. Employers are required to create an account, verify their account, add employees and then make contributions online.
Please contact your Mercans’ services delivery team for any additional information regarding the implications of the above change.
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Kenya - Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) to replace National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) – 01 October 2024843.12 KB