Universal health care in Kenya: Opportunities and challenges for the informal sector workers

Abstract

This paper is a review of approaches used by selected governments towards achieving universal health coverage for their citizenry. Data for this paper was generated from a review of existing literature. It particularly examines available opportunities and challenges faced by the Kenyan government towards enrolling informal sector workers to health insurance. The informal sector does not readily ensure guarantee to financial accessibility to health care by a majority workers. Most informal sector workers are highly vulnerable to economic shocks that result from catastrophic outof- pocket health expenditure. Though health insurance for informal sector workers increases their access to the services they need and improves financial risk protection, their uptake of health insurance is low. The review has established that several countries (German, Singapore, Taiwan, Ghana, and Tanzania) have enrolled informal sector workers to health insurance schemes, an approach that can be replicated in Kenya