Nghe An: Adjusting information on health insurance cards for pensioners and social insurance beneficiaries

On the first day of December, at the pension and allowance payment point in Nghi Huong ward, Cua Lo town, many people came very early to receive their monthly allowances. However, more special than before, this time, many people held their ID cards in their hands to compare and supplement their date of birth information on their health insurance cards.

Mr. Dang Van Tuong (Cua Lo Town) completes procedures to add date of birth information on his health insurance card. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Mr. Dang Van Tuong is nearly 80 years old this year. Together with his acquaintances in the neighborhood, he sat waiting for his turn to do the procedure. He said that for a long time, his health insurance card only had the year of birth printed on it, not the day or month of birth, so when he heard the town's Social Insurance Agency announce the information review on the card, he immediately went to the nearest payment point to make adjustments according to regulations. During the procedure, Mr. Tuong acknowledged the thoughtful and responsible working spirit of the staff when the time to adjust information for each person was quite fast, and the information was updated scientifically.

Like Mr. Tuong, Mr. Luu Quang Trung in Hung Loc commune (Vinh city), for a long time, during the medical examination and treatment process, he used a health insurance card that only printed the year of birth but did not show the day and month of birth. However, he knew that there have been many changes in the software for managing medical examination and treatment at medical facilities, requiring the health insurance card to fully display personal information according to the information on the ID card, so as soon as this adjustment was made, he immediately sought to correct and supplement it in time.

“We are very grateful for the correct policies and directions of the relevant authorities that have created favorable conditions for the elderly who receive pension benefits but have missing or incorrect information on their health insurance cards to be corrected to match their ID cards. Without this review and correction, in the long run, elderly people like me will certainly encounter many difficulties in the process of medical examination and treatment,” said Mr. Luu Quang Trung.

People complete procedures to adjust information on their health insurance cards at the pension payment point in Hung Loc commune, Vinh city. Photo by Phuoc Anh

According to statistics from Nghe An Social Insurance, the whole province currently has 145,000 pensioners, of which nearly 90,000 people have health insurance cards that only print the year of birth, without the date or month of birth. This situation is mainly due to "historical" issues, such as in previous years, the law did not require full printing of the date, month and year of birth on the health insurance card; some ethnic minority people, due to the specific difficulties of remote areas, have difficulty updating their personal data; in addition, the capacity and working conditions of a number of administrative staff in the past had certain limitations, causing the recording of information on documents and procedures to still be incorrect...

Realizing that this current state of data inconsistency no longer meets the increasingly high requirements for information standardization in the management of health insurance examination and treatment, the provincial Social Insurance sector has directed local Social Insurance agencies, in coordination with the Post Office, to conduct a large-scale review and update of information.

As of December 10, 2018, the whole province has checked the data of 120,054 pensioners and the progress of updating and supplementing correct information between health insurance cards and identity cards is very positive.

However, the implementation process is still difficult to avoid arising problems. Accordingly, although before the implementation, the Social Insurance and Post Offices had issued an official dispatch requesting local authorities to coordinate in propagating and announcing on the loudspeaker system so that pensioners know about this general review, there are still situations where some people are absent, not present in their residential areas; or lost, while waiting to re-issue their ID cards... In particular, there are people who resolutely refuse to submit their ID cards to carry out information adjustment procedures because they do not understand the meaning and purpose of this work. Currently, the whole province has 1,109 people who have not had their information checked, compared, or changed for the above reasons.

People do procedures at Cua Lo town post office. Photo by Phuoc Anh

In order to overcome difficulties and speed up the process of information synchronization, the functional sectors have been implementing many drastic solutions. Ms. Le Na - Director of Cua Lo Town Post Office said that propaganda work and raising awareness for the people must be the "spearhead" solution.

Since the September salary payment period, the town's radio system has continuously broadcast announcements that pensioners must bring their ID cards and health insurance cards to the payment points to receive their benefits. The staff at the work points are very scientific, in case of any information matching, they will sign the confirmation immediately, and if there is any discrepancy, they will be guided to write an adjustment declaration. The review and adjustment are carried out in a "rolling" manner, with each step being finalized.

Mr. Hoang Anh Dieu - Deputy Director of Social Insurance of Cua Lo Town said that in the area, there are 930 people who need to be checked and verified; of which, 410 people have checked the correct information, while 520 people need to make adjustments. Up to now, 190 cases have submitted complete documents and data to the Social Insurance agency and are entering additional information on the software to deploy mass printing of health insurance cards with full information.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Cuong - Deputy Head of the Card Issuance Department, Provincial Social Insurance affirmed that in order to fully and promptly update the date of birth on the health insurance card, from the beginning of May, Nghe An Social Insurance has requested the professional departments to concentrate all human resources to work overtime on Saturdays and Sundays to withdraw the original records of pensioners, make a list and send it to the post office.

On that basis, along with the information shown on the ID card, the officers will compare, update and edit the information on the health insurance card so that the date, month and year of birth are complete according to the ID card with a valid photo attached, facilitating the medical examination and treatment process of the people.

“In the coming time, we will continue to coordinate with the Post Office to continue promoting propaganda and information widely, helping people understand the purpose and meaning of this activity, thereby increasing consensus to cooperate with the Social Insurance agency to adjust data on the health insurance card in accordance with current regulations” - Mr. Nguyen Ba Cuong said./.

Phuoc Anh