NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 – Jubilee Health Insurance and the Sikh Council of Kenya have launched a community-based medical insurance cover targeting members of the Sikh community, their families and businesses.
The scheme will offer inpatient and outpatient medical cover through a pooled-risk model aimed at lowering the cost of healthcare access compared to individual insurance plans.
Eligibility ranges from children aged 38 weeks to adults aged 65 years and above, with inpatient cover starting from Sh250,000 and rising to Sh10 million.
Enrollment will be conducted through agents appointed within the community structure.
The partnership comes at a time when rising healthcare costs continue to make private medical insurance unaffordable for many households.
Njeri Jomo said insurers are increasingly turning to organized groups and communities to expand access to healthcare cover.
“Healthcare should not feel out of reach. We are seeing a shift where communities and affinity groups are becoming gateways to access,” she said.
Zul Abdul said organized groups such as SACCOs and community associations provide an opportunity to expand insurance penetration through collective risk-sharing models.
“In our society, the culture of pooling resources whether through harambees, SACCOs or other community structures is deeply rooted. This presents an opportunity to design solutions that enable people to pool risk in a structured way,” he said.
Gurdeep Singh Flora said the partnership reflects the Sikh community’s culture of collective support and shared responsibility.
Jubilee said the model is intended to complement the Social Health Authority framework as part of efforts to improve healthcare access and reduce the number of uninsured Kenyans.
