Companies

Minet loses bid to provide MPs with medical cover

house

National Assembly. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Insurance brokerage firm Minet Kenya has lost its bid to be the medical cover provider for parliamentarians after their employer opted to renew the contract with Liaison Healthcare Ltd.

This comes despite MPs passing a resolution to reject the current provider’s services, saying it was ineffective.

The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) rejected Minet’s tender on grounds that the company did not attach required vital documents in its application for the lucrative tender.

“We wish to disclose to you that the successful bidder is Liaison Healthcare Ltd at a cost of Sh370.19 million per annum all taxes inclusive,” said PSC secretary Jeremiah Nyengenye in a letter to Minet seen by the Business Daily.

According to PSC, Minet attached in its application an Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) registration certificate instead of a valid certificate of membership to the Medical Insurance Providers Association of Kenya (MIPAK).

The tender required underwriters to attach a certificate of membership of the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) while brokers were to attach a certificate of membership of MIPAK.

The PSC had in November last year invited bidders to submit sealed tender documents for the medical insurance scheme by December 11, in a move opposed by Liaison Healthcare whose two-year contract ends in February, 2020. The PSC terminated Liaison Healthcare’s contract after lawmakers cited poor service delivery by the insurer. The MPs claimed that on several occasions, they had been forced to pay bills and those of their dependents as the company did not take charge.

Liaison Healthcare had contested the termination of its contract, with the court directing that the dispute between the PSC and the insurance provider be handled by mediation.

The medical cover caters for the 349 members of the National Assembly and 67 Senators, their spouses and children aged below 25 years and studying in local schools. The beneficiaries are entitled to Sh10 million inpatient cover per family, Sh300,000 outpatient cover, Sh150,000 for maternity and Sh75,000 for dental care.

This is according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission gazette notice of July 2017. Minet had been the medical cover provider for MPs in the previous Parliament when it operated as AON Hewitt (formerly AON Minet).