Safaricom, Britam And Changamka Have Partnered To Launch Linda Jamii A Micro Insurance Medical Product Targeting Kenya's Uninsured

• Approximately 38.8 million Kenyans or 97% of the population lacks access to affordable and timely healthcare because they are uninsured
• With 34 per cent of the country’s population living below the poverty line, most people opt to wait till their conditions worsen to access medical care which in effect makes treatment more expensive.
• Premium payments made through M-PESA.
• At the cost of KES 12,000 per annum, Linda Jamii offers patients a cover worth KES 290,000 for: inpatient, outpatient, dental and maternity and funeral expenses

22nd January, 2014… Safaricom limited, Britam and Changamka Micro-insurance have jointly launched an affordable micro-insurance health cover which will widen the bracket of the population with access to medical insurance. 

The health insurance product known as Linda Jamii is an affordable and comprehensive medical cover that will provide a family premium cover at an annual subscription of KES12, 000 for a cover valued at KES 290,000. 

The cover will cater for in and out patient, maternity, dental, optical, a hospitalisation income replacement benefit of Kshs.500 per day to take care of lost income while in hospital and in the case of death, funeral expenses. 

Linda Jamii has adopted a micro-saving model which will use M-PESA as the premium collection platform. Through M-PESA, one can pay premiums in installments and can access partial benefits after accumulating KES 6,000 in contributions. 

“Kenya has for a long time been accused of lacking a culture of adopting insurance. However we believe that the real reason that 97% of the population caters for their medical expenses out of pocket, is because of the cost of insurance premiums. Therefore, Linda Jamii is to medical insurance what M-PESA is to financial services. They both promote inclusion,” said Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore. 

Statistics indicate that only 3 percent of the Kenyan population has health insurance-mainly employer based policy- meaning about 38.8 million Kenyans have no health insurance.

“Linda Jamii has been tailor made to ease the medical burden particularly for people working in the informal sector. This product will enable them to access medical care in more than 600 hospitals countrywide and our goal is to grow that to 1000 by mid this year,” said Britam’s Group MD Benson Wairegi.

The idea of Linda Jamii was conceived by Changamka which recognized that many Kenyans were being locked out of the medical cover bracket by the cost of the medical packages on offer.

“The vast majority of the Kenyan population does not have a steady income. Subsequently, they cannot afford the premiums of existing medical covers which in essence leaves quality healthcare as the reserve of a privileged few. The introduction of Linda Jamii is therefore meant to fill this gap and shatter this medical cover glass ceiling thus allowing more Kenyans to access and enjoy better healthcare,” said Changamka CEO, Sam Agutu.

One can register for Linda Jamii in all Safaricom shops, Uchumi and Postbank outlets as well as select M-PESA agents countrywide. The policy covers persons from age 18-75 years at entry, children under 18 years are also covered through their parents.