Who’s Your Daddy?
Boardrooms, Bed Rates & Backpedals How insurers turned the tables on The Hospital… and why the real villain is runaway healthcare costs.#SameForest #DifferentMonkeys
🩺 The Hike That Shook the City
At the stroke of a pen, The Hospital thought it had found the motherlode: a 61% rate hike.
Ward beds from KSh 11,000 → KSh 16,000 a night.
Outpatient consultations from KSh 10,000 → KSh 16,000.
Great value when treating acute nasopharyngitis… yaani homa.
💡 Industry chatter suggests insurers already pay private hospitals upwards of KSh 500M every month. A 61% hike would have ballooned that to over KSh 800M — a tidy KSh 300M extra at the stroke of a pen.
💡 Lux in Tenebris… or Lights Out?
The Hospital’s motto is Lux in Tenebris — “Light in Darkness.”
The Comms guys probably had their justifications lined up:
“We haven’t raised prices in two years.”
“We’ve added 420 new beds.”
“We’ve invested in robotics, AR, nanotech.”
Blah blah blah.
But then the Piper’s boss tossed in a few extra coins — and the tune changed. Within days, waiting rooms emptied. TV cameras rolled through ghost wards. The 61% dream was dead on arrival.
📉 Why Premiums Still Rise
Here’s the kicker: even though insurers pushed back, costs keep climbing.
14.5M Kenyans have medical cover.
~12M are on SHA.
Only 2.5M are privately insured — a privileged 4.7% of Kenyans.
Healthcare inflation in Kenya runs at 30% annually. That means even if one hike is blocked, the pressure builds elsewhere.
I asked a friendly actuary — Namcos, one of the smartest fullbacks you’ll ever see — how they calculate premiums:
Risk premium = Average hospitalization (≈ KSh 300K) × incidence rate (≈10%).
Add medical inflation (≈30%).
Add operations cost + claims history + profit.
💡 So yes, insurers may hold the line today, but inflation always finds a way onto your renewal notice tomorrow.
👩🏽 Purity, the Underdog
Purity, the sales rep, had to call her clients and explain in Swahili why The Hospital was suddenly off the table.
“Mama Njeri, consultation ilikuwa ngiri kumi, sasa ni ngiri 16… na ni homa tu.”
Her clients groaned. But life went on. Purity became the heroine — the underdog giving voice to frustrated Kenyans.
💼 Sales Strategy: Turning a Price Hike Into a Playbook
What Purity did instinctively is what many salespeople miss: she owned the narrative.
Here’s a playbook you can use the next time your company hikes rates:
1. Test Before You Jump – Float the hike with loyal clients first.
2. Sell Value, Not the Increase – Frame it as an upgrade, not a punishment.
3. Add Micro-Wins – Sweeten the blow with extra service or attention.
4. Own the Narrative –
Never let the client discover a price hike through the press, a memo to their provider — or worse still, through an bill.
Purity picked up the phone. Made it human. And built trust, not anger.
❤️ Life & Relationships: The Price Hikes of the Heart
We all know that dreaded line: “We need to talk.”
Then: “Where is this relationship going?”
Then: “You no longer hold my hand in public.”
Finally: “We haven’t been out in two years.”
(And no, having maji maji at Alfajiri is not “going out.”)
Love, like healthcare, sneaks in hikes. Old rates one day, new terms the next — and either way, malipo ni hapa hapa.
🏉 Lessons From Rugby (Because Life Is an Extreme Sport)
At Ellis Park — one of the most intimidating stadiums in the world — Australia stunned South Africa 38-22, their first win there since 1963.
The Springboks are the current world champions, and since Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, they’ve lost by more than 7 points only four times. This was one of them.
💡 A 62-year curse lifted in one night. Proof that #EverySinnerHasAFuture.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks tore Argentina apart in Córdoba — a brutal reminder that while some beatings are historic, others routine.
🐄 Who’s Really Being Milked?
So yes, insurers blocked the 61% hike.
Yes, they huddled and played smart.
But the bigger villain? Healthcare inflation.
As in love and war, so in business — everyone eventually makes up. The handshakes return, headlines fade, and the bills keep creeping upward.
Only difference? Say moo… 🐄
📄 The Discharge Voucher
And just like that… The Hospital’s 61% hike went from “genius boardroom move” to “ghost ward disaster.”
POSITION STATEMENT: SUSPENDS PLANNED PRICE REVIEW
Lux in Tenebris? Somebody switch on the lights. 💡
#SameForest #DifferentMonkeys
☕️ Chuo Atema (A man must ask):
Want some training on how to handle the price hike objection?
👉 Book an appointment here
or let’s have some kahawa and talk it through.
“The management will still meet, the bills will still rise — but at least you read it here first.
NimewaWuon 😉
Till next week…….Always Be Closing