Top 10 Things Former NHIF Members Get Wrong About SHA Migration Kenya

Assuming NHIF registration automatically migrated to SHA

This is the biggest and most dangerous mistake in the entire NHIF to SHA migration Kenya process. Millions of Kenyans assumed that because they were registered and contributing to NHIF, the Social Health Authority would simply carry their records over. It did not — at least not reliably.

The government announced a seamless migration but in practice, most former NHIF members who visited hospitals found the SHA system either could not find their records or showed them as unregistered. Your NHIF number is not your SHA number. Your NHIF login does not work on sha.go.ke. You must register fresh.

Trying to log into the SHA portal with old NHIF credentials

The SHA portal at sha.go.ke is a completely separate system from the old NHIF portal at nhif.or.ke — which is now offline. Your old NHIF username, password, and member number do not work on sha.go.ke or the Afya Yangu portal at afyayangu.go.ke.

When people try to log in with NHIF credentials and fail, many assume the SHA portal is broken or that their account has been lost. It has not. The SHA registration simply requires a fresh account created using your National ID number — not any NHIF reference.

Not knowing the difference between SHA, SHIF and Afya Yangu

Three terms keep appearing during NHIF to SHA migration Kenya and people confuse them constantly. Here is what each one actually means:

Using the wrong SHA paybill number or account format

One of the most searched terms in Kenya right now is SHA paybill — and with good reason. Many people are paying SHA monthly but sending the money to the wrong number, the wrong account format, or even to the old NHIF paybill which is no longer active.

Here is the correct SHA paybill payment method via M-Pesa:

Arriving at hospital with an NHIF card expecting cover

This mistake is still happening daily across Kenya. People carry their old NHIF card to the hospital — sometimes a card they have been using for years — and find out at the reception desk that it is no longer accepted. The NHIF card has been invalid since 1st October 2024 when the Social Health Authority took over completely.

What hospitals now check is your SHA registration status via the SHA provider portal — they search your National ID number in their system. If you are registered on SHA and your contributions are active, you are covered. The physical NHIF card is irrelevant.

Assuming the monthly SHA contribution amount is the same as NHIF

NHIF used a fixed contribution table — you paid based on income brackets, and many self-employed Kenyans were paying KES 300 flat. SHA changed this model. For formally employed Kenyans, the contribution is now 2.75% of your gross salary with no upper cap — meaning high earners pay significantly more than they did under NHIF.

For self-employed Kenyans, the KES 300 figure still applies as the standard flat rate — but SHA also has a means-testing option where your contribution can be calculated based on your actual income, potentially lowering it if you qualify.

Refreshing the SHA portal during OTP verification

During SHA registration on sha.go.ke or the Afya Yangu portal, the system sends an OTP to your phone. If the OTP is slow to arrive — which happens often because the SHA system is under heavy load — people hit refresh. This is one of the most damaging things you can do during the registration process.

Refreshing mid-OTP can create a partial registration in the system. When you try to register again, the portal tells you “your ID is already registered” — but you have no account to log into because the registration never completed. Clearing this requires calling SHA directly.

Not adding family members after completing SHA registration

Completing your own SHA registration is only half the job. Your spouse and children are not automatically covered — even if they were listed as dependants under your old NHIF account. The NHIF to SHA migration Kenya process does not carry over dependant information. Every family member must be added manually on the SHA portal.

Log into sha.go.ke or Afya Yangu, go to My Profile → Dependants, and add each family member individually with the required documents — marriage certificate for your spouse, birth certificate or birth notification number for each child.

Expecting NHIF contributions to be refunded or carried over to SHA

A very common question during NHIF to SHA migration Kenya is whether the money paid into NHIF for years — sometimes decades — will be refunded or credited to the new SHA account. The answer, as of 2026, is no. The government transferred NHIF funds to SHA as part of the institutional transition. Individual contribution histories were not converted into SHA credits and no refunds have been issued.

This is frustrating — especially for people who contributed faithfully to NHIF for 20+ years. But waiting for a refund that has not been announced is not a strategy. The practical move is to register on SHA, start fresh contributions, and access the cover you are paying for now.

Giving up on SHA registration because the portal is slow

The SHA portal at sha.go.ke and the Afya Yangu portal at afyayangu.go.ke are both under enormous traffic. Millions of Kenyans are registering, checking SHIF status, paying via SHA paybill, and managing dependants — all on the same government servers. Slowness is not a sign of failure. It is the reality of a system handling national-scale traffic.

People try once, the page times out, and they give up — telling themselves they will come back later. Later becomes never. They remain unregistered, uninsured, and one hospital visit away from a bill they were not expecting.