Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has revealed that Social Health Authority (SHA) contributions collected from Kenyans are treated as insurance and not expenditure.
Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, March 5, Mbadi added that the money is only used to pay for the treatment of Kenyans in hospitals.
Using a scenario where no Kenyan falls sick, the CS detailed that the money will still be intact.
"It is basically an insurance, it is not an expenditure. If you take the best case scenario that no Kenyan falls sick, that money should not be spent, and it should remain there," the CS remarked.
"That is why when you look at our fiscal framework, we have removed the Ksh73 billion from the fiscal framework because it is not an expenditure."
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On the other hand, he noted that the government was working on allocating more funds to SHA to ensure that Kenyans are medically covered.
He acknowledged that the SHA system had many challenges, further challenging the Ministry of Health to ensure that the system delivers for Kenyans.
"The government must also put in money to support healthcare in the country. You will see an allocation in the budget to support this health programme," he added.
"I hope the line Ministry will do justice to Kenyans by making this system work, make it more efficient and more accountable. The problem which are there were bound to be there because any new thing must have challenges."
