The Kenya Insurance Act Protects You
The Kenya Insurance Act (1984) is the Act that governs all matters insurance in Kenya. Its chief aim is to protect you – the insured – and make sure that insurance companies in Kenya are towing the line.
The Kenya Insurance Act requires all insurance companies in Kenya to register. Any kind of insurance you get must be from an insurance company registered in Kenya.
The Act also requires disclosure of all insurance companies’ rates and terms of payment to the regulatory body. This again ensures that if they are charging you an arm and a leg or not making payments, someone knows about it.
Why do you, the consumer, need to know all this? What does it have to do with you? you may be wondering. Truth be told, it has everything to do with you.
While you don’t need to know or memorize the Kenya Insurance Act word for word, you need to know that you are not alone out there in the world of Kenyan insurance brokers.
Just knowing that laws govern this industry is an excellent first step. Knowing in brief how they protect you is certainly to your advantage. It puts you one step ahead of the game.
The first thing you know to look for as you shop for insurance in Kenya is whether the company is registered in Kenya as required by the Act. You also know that they cannot change their premiums and payments haphazardly.
This makes shopping for insurance less threatening. It’s kind of like having a big brother you can run to and tell if the bullies are after you. We’ve all been there (except the bullies themselves) and it’s okay to be scared.
Of course the optimists among us may prefer to think about insurance companies in Kenya as friends, not bullies, and that’s fine as well.
A piece of advice though; if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this world – it’s everyone for himself, God for us all. Insurance is big business and business is about profit.
So do yourself a favor; remember the Kenya Insurance Act and be prepared to yield it as a shield as well as a spear. That means you can throw it in the face of your insurance company if they’re not behaving. Then watch them take cover.
