All foreigners vising Kenya to buy local health cover irrespective of their duration of stay

Kenya to compel foreigners to buy local health cover according to the new proposal in the Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023.

Regardless of the length of their stay, all visitors to Kenya will be required to purchase local health insurance coverage, generating a new source of revenue for the insurance business from the more than 1.5 million foreign visitors who come to the country every year.

All international visitors to Kenya will now be required to carry travel health insurance, according to a proposal made by the National Assembly’s health committee, which is reviewing the Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023.

“A person who is a non-Kenyan and intends to enter the territory of Kenya for a period of less than 12 months shall be required to be in possession of a travel health insurance cover designated by the Cabinet Secretary [for Health],” the committee says in the report tabled in the House last week.

The Bill expected to be passed by Parliament this week promises to boost the entity that will replace the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

The public health insurer will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the new amendment alongside any other approved private insurance firms.

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Prior to the official launch of universal health coverage (UHC) by President William Ruto in the coming weeks, the newest effort to bolster the financial strength of the new NHIF is the plan to require foreigners to purchase travel health insurance coverage.

The move meant to ensure that visitors/foreigners are covered for emergencies such as pandemics will significantly boost the cash flows of the new Social Health Insurance Fund and is expected to hand Kenya’s insurance industry a new revenue stream.

The proposal is a departure from the earlier clause in the Bill that sought to make membership compulsory only for foreigners who stay in the country for more than a year.

Travel health insurance protects one in the event of an illness or injury when traveling outside of his or her home country.

The Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023 is one of the four State-sanctioned health Bills that have been approved by the parliamentary health committee and are expected to be adopted by the House this month before being assented into law by President William Ruto.

The others are the Primary Healthcare Bill, of 2023, the Digital Health Bill, of 2023, and the Facility Improvement Financing Bill, of 2023.

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