After completing the drafting of the Health Financing Strategy in early 2011, discussions at national level and in the National Social and Economic Forum focused on the organizational landscape of future health care financing. Several recent developments may influence the final form of the strategy and the way it is implemented, including, notably, an up to three-fold increase in the membership contribution to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which is being assessed in court after several national stakeholders, including the Labour Unions, lodged an appeal. Second, the International Finance Corporation funded an organizational review of the NHIF, conducted by Deloitte. The review has been welcomed by government and development partners, while the comprehensive list of recommendations provides valuable guidance for improving the NHIF. A copy of the report is available for download below. Third, a possible insurance scheme for civil servants is being debated, a project that has largely been developed outside the Ministry of Health, and separate from the health financing strategy process. Issues regarding equity and sustainability and how the scheme would relate to the national health financing strategy will require further discussion. Finally, the piloting of outpatient benefits by the NHIF: one of the questions concerns how this could be harmonised with the GIZ-DFID-funded Health for All Kenyans by Innovation (HAKI) project which has received substantial additional funding by World Bank and KfW. The NHIF appears to see HAKI as a learning opportunity on how to provide pro-poor-oriented social insurance including outpatient schemes.
