Insurance Scheme to Issue Computerised ID Cards (Back Page)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
SUBSCRIBERS to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will from the middle of this year acquire new identification (ID) cards to enable them to access health care at all accredited facilities anywhere in the country.
Presently, insured members of the scheme could access services only at the various health care facilities which have contracts with the individual District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes (DMHIS).
A Communications Officer of the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC), Mr Kwasi Acquah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that work on a computerised system to produce the new cards was almost complete.
He said after the introduction of the new cards, every insured person could attend hospital at any accredited health facility without paying from his or her pocket instead of the current system where people had access to only health care facilities where their individual schemes had arrangements with.
“With the new system, subscribers will have NHIS ID cards but not ID cards from individual schemes,” he pointed out.
He explained that with the introduction of the new cards, individuals would need a maximum of two weeks to receive their cards after registration instead of the long period of time one needed to receive his or her card under the present system.
The issue of delays in acquiring identification cards (ID) after registering under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been a big challenge facing the scheme, a situation which is discouraging some people from subscribing.
Mr Acquah said the new cards had a validity period of five years and described the new cards as portable and advantageous to both the schemes and the individuals, since they would help to check abuses.
Under the current system, an insured person has to go for a new card every year he or she renews subscription, a situation which many find difficult, since it could take months for one to receive the card to access facilities.
The PRO said the new computerised ID cards would have special security features, which included clearer and double pictures (one big and another small) and also unique numbers which allowed easy identification as to which region and district one registered in.
He said with the security features, it would be difficult to duplicate the new cards, adding that with clearer pictures, one would find it difficult to use another person’s ID card to access a health care facility as was allegedly being done currently.
In answer to a question, Mr Acquah said if one failed to pay the yearly premium within the five year-period, the subscriber’s name would automatically be deleted from the system until he resumed payment.
He explained that the cards would have magnetic swipes for easy checks when they were presented at a health care facility.
He said since the issue of the new cards was made public, many people had expressed interest and were asking for their early introduction, which to him was a positive sign.