diff --git a/config/kube_config.py b/config/kube_config.py
index 3384d272..7e054c0d 100644
--- a/config/kube_config.py
+++ b/config/kube_config.py
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ def safe_get(self, key):
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         v = self.safe_get(key)
-        if not v:
+        if v is None:
             raise ConfigException(
                 'Invalid kube-config file. Expected key %s in %s'
                 % (key, self.name))
diff --git a/config/kube_config_test.py b/config/kube_config_test.py
index b29525e8..ff16ede8 100644
--- a/config/kube_config_test.py
+++ b/config/kube_config_test.py
@@ -564,13 +564,14 @@ class TestKubeConfigLoader(BaseTestCase):
                     "server": TEST_SSL_HOST,
                     "certificate-authority-data":
                         TEST_CERTIFICATE_AUTH_BASE64,
+                    "insecure-skip-tls-verify": False,
                 }
             },
             {
                 "name": "no_ssl_verification",
                 "cluster": {
                     "server": TEST_SSL_HOST,
-                    "insecure-skip-tls-verify": "true",
+                    "insecure-skip-tls-verify": True,
                 }
             },
         ],
@@ -1076,7 +1077,8 @@ def test_ssl(self):
             token=BEARER_TOKEN_FORMAT % TEST_DATA_BASE64,
             cert_file=self._create_temp_file(TEST_CLIENT_CERT),
             key_file=self._create_temp_file(TEST_CLIENT_KEY),
-            ssl_ca_cert=self._create_temp_file(TEST_CERTIFICATE_AUTH)
+            ssl_ca_cert=self._create_temp_file(TEST_CERTIFICATE_AUTH),
+            verify_ssl=True
         )
         actual = FakeConfig()
         KubeConfigLoader(