Exclusive: The Way SHA Chiefs Abandoned Teachers
According to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Social Health Authority (SHA) declined a request to cover around 400,000 instructors since it lacked the necessary infrastructure.
According to what the legislators were informed, the SHA system would have cost the TSC Sh37 billion.
According to TSC head executive Nancy Macharia, who spoke to legislators, SHA was firm that it would have taken a year to put that money into use even if the committee had paid it.
The now-defunct NHIF also provided teachers with no insurance, Macharia claimed, since it too gave exorbitant prices that the TSC was unable to cover, just like SHA.
No buildings
In answer to a query from Mandera South MP Abdul Haro, who questioned the TSC’s failure to relocate teachers to SHA, Macharia was speaking.
“Last year, when we had problems with Minet, we wanted to transfer our teachers to SHA, so we met with SHA and were informed that SHA’s infrastructure was insufficient for this,” stated Macharia.
She continued, “We did have a meeting with them, and besides stating that they do not have structures, they requested us for Sh37 billion to onboard teachers, and even then, they told us that they were not ready to onboard them this year. Our [Minet] program operates on a budget of around Sh20 billion.”
To answer queries about teachers’ health insurance, Macharia appeared before the Education Committee, which is led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly.
The TSC has been unable to locate another insurance provider to cover the vast number of teachers, despite the issues with the Minet cover, which is only valid for a three-year period that expires on November 30, she said.
According to Macharia, the TSC had put out a tender for insurance services, but none of the insurance companies had made an offer.
Delays at the Treasury
The TSC had completely paid the contract for the second-year policy, which ended on November 30, 2024, but due to delays in the exchequer, it still had to pay for the first and second quarters of the third-year policy, which began on December 1, 2024, and March 1, with the bill at Sh11.2 billion, she said.
Since the agency needs Sh1.5 billion for it, she said that the TSC would not be able to offer group life insurance for instructors when it expires in November.
The Minet plan includes inpatient and outpatient services for teachers costing between Ksh1 million and Ksh2.5 million, dental coverage worth Ksh45,000, optical coverage worth Ksh60,000, maternity coverage between Ksh120,000 and Ksh300,000, an evacuation allocation, an international and travel referral allocation of Ksh2 million and Ksh200,000, respectively, and funeral expenses for principal members and transport for immediate family members up to a maximum of 10 people of Ksh300,000.
However, lawmakers criticized the teachers’ insurance plan, claiming it had failed teachers and urging the TSC to provide a superior package.
After the insurance plan was unable to cover their expenses, some legislators spoke about having to support teachers who were receiving treatment at hospitals.
The plan was criticized by legislators, who claimed that it had abandoned teachers to fend for themselves.
They mentioned that treatment approvals were delayed, pre-authorization and authorization forms were delayed, patients were turned away from hospitals, and teachers who had passed away were not paid their final benefits.
According to Melly, he had to talk to Minet officials because the plan failed to cover the expenses of a patient who was reportedly held at Upper Hill Hospital for more than 90 days.
“We need a reliable insurance plan for teachers,” Melly said. You should either split these instructors up into groups and provide them a decent plan, or show us the route ahead, since what you’re doing is wrong. “The current arrangement is simply a mongrel of insurance carriers, which is a very amusing scheme.”
‘Amorphous’ plan
The program is “amorphous” and does not assist teachers, according to Joseph Makilap of Baringo North. “As TSC, you said you are suffering from budget cuts and it is clear that teachers will continue to suffer due to this conglomerate of insurance firms.”
As TSC, we are informing you to sit down and group teachers to see how they may profit. If not, let’s onboard all teachers into SHA and from there we say God help us.”
“Today, teachers are not getting their money to dispose of their loved ones,” Julius Taitum (Igembe North) asked in response to the delay in paying last benefits. What’s going on?
According to Dick Maungu in Luanda, teacher requests for therapy were being approved too slowly.
“This insurance problem is a tough issue to handle,” he stated. The problem began in 2015 and cannot be resolved immediately. Let TSC go and explore alternative ways to group the instructors so that they may be covered by insurance. In contrast, this is a really crazy consortium of shapeless businesses that isn’t an insurance provider at all.
Jerusha Momanyi (Nyamira woman representative) said teachers were weeping about the subpar services provided by SHA, while Peter Orero (Kibra) questioned why teachers were only treated in hospitals but not given medication. “When teachers go to hospitals … they are treated and not given medicines. They have no choice but to purchase medication.
After their existing system failed to pay their bills, Mary Emase (Teso South) said she too had to rescue teachers from hospitals. “There are issues in this scheme. Our instructors are in need of help. Please address these issues if you want our teachers in the classroom.
As the scheme faltered and paid their debts, Emase described how she was compelled to also bail out teachers who were admitted to hospitals and are forced to buy medicine.
“There are issues with this plan, and our teachers are suffering,” she stated. “If you want our teachers to be in class, please address these issues.”
