Jubilee Health Insurance is betting that the biggest barrier to health cover in Kenya isn’t the price tag. It’s the way people are asked to pay it.
The insurer is expanding an instalment based premium model across Nairobi, aiming to bring health insurance within reach of Kenyans who want cover but can’t stomach paying for a full year upfront. The push builds on customer feedback that told Jubilee something simple: many households value insurance, but the annual lump sum kills the deal before it starts.
How Lipa Pole Pole Works
The campaign runs under Jubilee’s Linda Afya Leo, Lipa Pole Pole model, which lets customers activate cover after their first payment and spread the rest across up to 10 monthly instalments. Rather than asking a family to find one large sum, Jubilee breaks the cost into pieces that fit more naturally into a monthly budget.
The target market spans individuals, families, first time insurance buyers, and small and medium enterprises with between three and 50 employees, a segment that has historically struggled to access group cover at all.
Entry level plans start at Ksh 3,256 per month, covering Ksh 200,000 in inpatient treatment and Ksh 40,000 in outpatient care. Customers who need more can move up to higher tier options offering as much as Ksh 10 million in inpatient cover.
Why Jubilee Is Changing Its Approach
Njeri Jomo, CEO of Jubilee Health Insurance, framed the shift as a response to a specific and recurring problem: households that want cover keep running into a wall built from timing, not desire.
“Many Kenyans remain uninsured not because they do not value health insurance, but because cover is often seen as expensive and complex,” Jomo said. She added that the redesign goes beyond payment mechanics. “This is about much more than changing how customers pay. It’s about changing how customers access health insurance. Whether you’re buying your first health plan, protecting your family, caring for ageing parents or covering your employees, there should be a Jubilee Health solution that’s right for you, and getting covered should be simple, convenient and affordable.”
Jubilee will roll out the campaign first through Afya Mtaani, a community outreach initiative that puts health advisors directly in neighbourhoods rather than waiting for customers to walk into a branch. The company plans to expand the model to other regions once the Nairobi rollout takes hold.
Regulators See a Bigger Pattern
The timing lines up with a broader conversation in Kenya’s insurance industry about why penetration remains low, despite years of product innovation.
Godfrey Kiptum, Commissioner and CEO of the Insurance Regulatory Authority, pointed to cash flow, not product design, as the real obstacle for most uninsured Kenyans. “Improving insurance penetration requires solutions that respond to the realities of consumer cash flow, especially among informal sector workers and underserved households,” Kiptum said. He added that affordability and clarity go hand in hand: “Approaches that support affordability, accessibility and consumer understanding are important in broadening inclusion and strengthening confidence in insurance.”
That last point, consumer understanding, matters as much as the payment structure itself. Insurance uptake in Kenya has long been held back not just by cost, but by products that are hard to explain and harder to trust. A simpler payment structure only works if people also understand what they are buying.
What This Means for Jubilee’s Growth Plans
The instalment push sits inside a larger ambition. Jubilee wants to cover one million lives by the end of 2027, a target that will require reaching exactly the households this campaign is designed for: people who have been priced out, not by the cover itself, but by how it’s sold.
Customers interested in the plans can visit jubileeinsurance.com/ke/lipa-pole-pole, send “Afya” by SMS to 40643 for a callback, or dial the USSD code 7062# to view available offers.
Jubilee Health Insurance is a subsidiary of Jubilee Holdings Limited, founded in 1937 as the first locally incorporated insurance company in Mombasa. It has since grown into the largest composite and medical insurer in East Africa, with operations spanning Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Mauritius.
