Electronic health card from Jan 2014 duty

Court ruling on electronic health card

16/11/2013

The electronic health card (eGK) was supposed to replace the old health insurance card (KVK) as early as 2006. Technical problems were also to blame for the shift, as well as policy discussions on necessity and data security. Now a court has again ruled on the duty to buy a health card.

Years of delays
The electronic health card (eGK) should replace the health insurance card (KVK) valid since 1995 already in 2006. However, technical problems as well as policy discussions on necessity and data security delayed the introduction for years. Now it is to be the first of January 2014 but so far and the old KVK loses its validity. The majority of the approximately 70 million legally insured persons are already in possession of an eGK, only about five percent have only the KVK.

Berlin court verdict
The data protection concerns about the new card have been an issue since their planned introduction. So also for an insured person from Berlin, who filed a legal protection request to oblige his health insurance company to issue him a certificate of his insurance coverage, which he could use instead of the eGK. He justified this among other things with the public criticism of the map and that he the „biometric hospital cards“ do not want to use. However, he was initially subject to legal and the Social Court Berlin had set on November 7 by resolution (Az: S 81 KR 2176/13 ER) that a claim against the health insurance on the issue of another insurance proof does not exist. The decision is not yet final and can be challenged by the applicant.

Only a few insured persons are exempt from photo duty
The plaintiff in Berlin is certainly not the only critic. For example, the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) had explained their reservations in writing for reasons of data protection law. When and what data are stored exactly on the eGK is partially not yet clear. Even emergency data would not be saved for the time being. But certainly a current photo of the insured must be on the map. Only insured persons under the age of 15 and few others, such as those in need of care or people who are forbidden religious beliefs by a photo, also received their eGC without a photograph.

Financial concerns
Financial reasons are also used against the electronic health card. For example, 728 million euros have already been invested in the eGK by June of this year, and although their benefits are in dispute. Thus, a benefit could be secured only in the long term, by faster and more flexible on the health data of patients can be used by better data connections. For data protection reasons, however, this raises problems.

Health insurance card may be longer
However, patients who are still without the new eGC on 1 January still have insurance cover and need to be treated by a doctor. Roland Stahl of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV) stated that the old KVK still applied until the printed validity date. Since the cards are valid for seven employees and pensioners even 20 years, so this may take some time. The KBV and the umbrella association of statutory health insurers have agreed on a transitional period, which, however, is interpreted differently by both sides. Although sometimes it is said that all old cards would be valid until the end of September 2014 at the latest, according to Stahl, most doctors are likely to stick to the printed date. On the other hand, the health insurances could not do anything, because the doctors do not settle directly with them, but through the Kassenärztlichen associations. (Ad)

Picture: Sample card of the BKK