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Cofek up in arms over medical insurance scam


Holders of medical insurance covers could be incurring high costs thanks to unscrupulous insurers, doctors and hospitals.

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) accuses some top  hospitals in Nairobi of colluding with insurance companies to fleece unsuspecting patients.

“In collusion with medical insurers, doctors at such hospitals are unprofessionally forcing patients to be admitted for ‘observation’ even when the patients could be treated and discharged,” said Cofek.

As a result, patients are spending every penny in their health insurance cover by being slapped with bloated medical bills.

Cofek said it was a scheme intended to enrich insurance companies.

It claimed the same companies failed to pay if a person was diagnosed with a more serious health condition.

“When such inflated and unexplained bills are paid out, the patients soon exhaust their covers. Those whose condition is later discovered not payable by the insurer, are forced to part with all their savings or valuables in order to be discharged from the hospital,” claimed Cofek.

The consumer lobby has blamed the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) for fueling the trend.