The cost of hospital bills surged sharply in January, keeping the country’s medical inflation high, as the Covid-19 pandemic fallout continues.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows that healthcare inflation hit 4.45 per cent in January, signalling higher hospital bills.
The statistics office did not provide reasons for the change, but it coincided with a time when Kenyans were struggling with job losses and lower incomes.
The cost of hospital bills surged sharply in January, keeping the country’s medical inflation high, as the Covid-19 pandemic fallout continues.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows that healthcare inflation hit 4.45 per cent in January, signalling higher hospital bills.
The statistics office did not provide reasons for the change, but it coincided with a time when Kenyans were struggling with job losses and lower incomes.
Some health providers have attributed the steep rise in medical inflation to a similar rise in the cost of medicine, doctors’ fees and medical equipment that is passed on to end-users to remain in business.
A section of insurers, however accused medical practitioners of driving up medical inflation through numerous charges for services that patients do not need.
Some doctors are known to take their patients through procedures such as numerous lab tests for which they charge the insurers exorbitantly, raising the overall cost of medicare.
Although the insurance regulator ordered companies to settle bills for all Covid-19 cases, increased claims against falling premiums, a sharp rise in policy cancellations and withdrawals by customers squeezed by the economic fallout from Covid-19, is pushing them into liquidity challenges.
The steep rise in healthcare inflation against the backdrop of a slumped economy erodes household incomes by large margins and eats into company profits.
A quarter of all Kenyans healthcare bills are paid out of pocket, according to the World Bank, which leaves families vulnerable when costs rise hitting low income households hardest.
“More than one-quarter of total health care expenditures comes in the form of out-of-pocket payments by households, and 82 per-cent of women and 79 percent of men do not have any health insurance,” World bank said in the Systematic Country Diagnostic.
Kenyans also rely on donations from friends and families, savings and other sources to meet their healthcare needs and the surge in costs is likely to make it harder for households to survive.
The situation was worsened by a doctors and nurses strike in puclic hospitals late last year forcing poor patients to opt for private healthcare which is pricey.
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