The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is government cooperation established in 1966 that provides medical cover to Kenyans. Safaricom has eased payment by allowing members to pay NHIF through Mpesa. One can get membership through an employer. You can also apply individually. Some of the services one can get from NHIF include inpatient and outpatient services, cancer treatment, maternal care, and radiology imaging.
You can also access NHIF even if you are not formally employed. You will be required to give a monthly contribution of Ksh. 500 to access the insurance services. For self-employed Kenyans, you can make monthly contributions through their official pay bill number. Before then, you need to register to NHIF. What are the requirements?
- Copies of your national identification cards and that of your spouses or dependents if applicable.
- If employed, a copy of your employer’s introductory letter
- You will also need colored passport photos for you and your spouses and dependents
- You will need the original and copies of your dependents birth certificates
Once you are registered, you will be paying the monthly contribution of Ksh. 500. You can pay vNHIF through Mpesa. How?
- Go to your Mpesa App, Safaricom App, or your sim toolkit
- Select Lipa Na Mpesa
- Select the pay bill option and enter NHIF’s official pay bill number: 200222 as the business/ pay bill number
- For your account number, enter your ID
- Enter the amount you want to pay. It should be Ksh. 500 per month
- Enter your Mpesa PIN.
- Before pressing OK, make sure you have put the correct pay bill number, account number, and amount you want to pay
- Press okay
If successful, you will receive a confirmation message from Mpesa confirming the transaction. The payment usually takes 2 to 3 days to reflect.
It is important to note that the deadline for making the payments is usually the ninth of every month. Arrange to make the payments before then to avoid penalties that people get and to be able to access uninterrupted health insurance services.
You can also check your NHIF status by sending an SMS to 21101. In the SMS, write “ID” followed by a space then your ID number or passport number depending on which one you registered using.
That is just how easy it is to pay NHIF through Mpesa.