The National Hospital Insurance Fund is a State Parastatal that was established in 1966 as a department under the Ministry of Health.

The core mandate of NHIF is to provide medical insurance cover to all its members and their declared dependents.

NHIF is an Insurance Scheme that provides medical insurance cover to members both inpatient and outpatient at NHIF accredited hospitals.  Outpatient services are limited only to one’s selected hospital while inpatient service can be accessed from any accredited hospital.

The accredited hospitals are categorized into 3 categories:

1. Category A – Government Hospitals
2. Category B – Faith-Based and Medium Cost Private Facilities
3. Category C – High-Cost Private Facilities

NHIF cover is provided under a two-tier category;

1. National Scheme (Supa Cover)
2. Managed Schemes

The National Supa Cover Scheme covers all members registered as Self-Employed and employees of companies that are not in the managed schemes. Members in the National Supa Cover can access services from Category A and some Category B hospitals.

The managed scheme covers persons whose employer has negotiated an additional enhanced package than that of the National Scheme. It covers mostly civil servants, The National Police & Prison Services, Government Parastatals, County Governments & former members of parliaments. It is not a constant factor that all members in the fore-mentioned access the same services. In some cases, it varies by job group. Members in Managed Schemes can access services in any of Category A, B & C hospitals.

More information about NHIF  can be accessed from their main website here

http://www.nhif.or.ke/healthinsurance/