The biggest trial and error was electing Uhuru - MP Mark Nyamita

According to the legislator, President Kenyatta's health insurance scheme did not favor Kenyans, as many were denied health services.

He scoffed at Kenyatta's praise of the Linda mama program, which, he said during a Jubilee party meeting, was replaced by untried and untested projects by President William Ruto's administration.

"When Uhuru compared Linda Mama to SHA, it is not comparable. There was nothing free even at that time. Even then women were turned away from county hospitals because it was not a sustainable programme," Nyamita noted.

"The biggest trial and error we have had in this country was the election of Uhuru Kenyatta."

He added that the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) which catered for Linda Mama, patients were not accessing seamless health services compared to the new Social Health Authority (SHA).

"In NHIF if someone went to hospital you had to wait for two months, but today you are being asked to pay upfront to save yourself," he said.

"There is a lady who had kidney issues and was discharged from the Kenyatta National Hospital (under SHA) after her bill of Ksh.900,000 was paid," he added, however at pains to confirm whether the entire amount was paid to the hospital.

SHA Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi has revealed that the contributory fund has collected Ksh.70 billion since its inception, drawing comparisons with NHIF, which only collected Ksh.45 billion in its lifespan.

Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale has said SHA claims worth Ksh.3 billion are being re-evaluated due to missing documents, while an additional Ksh.2.1 billion is under surveillance for further investigation.

He has also said that the ministry has rejected Ksh.10.6 billion in claims, citing fraudulent practices such as upcoding, falsification of medical records, conversion of outpatient cases into inpatient admissions, and phantom billing for non-existent patients.

Pressure is mounting on the Health Ministry over questions on how SHA has been paying out claims to hospitals, with concerns of high bills, especially with low-level hospitals.