Judgment health insurance must delete picture of the insured for health card

Plaintiff is granted his right to informational self-determination
In the dispute over the permanent storage of his passport photo for the health card, a man has now received justice from the Mainz Social Court. The plaintiff had asked the health insurance company for the deletion of the photo and thereby relied on his fundamental right to data protection. Because this guarantees the right of the individual to determine in principle about the disclosure and use of his personal data. Given the verdict, the cashier must now delete the data.
The cash register must obtain renewed consent in case of need
"Can a health insurance permanently save the passport photo of an insured person for the health card?" The Mainz Social Court had to deal with this question after a man had filed a lawsuit against the permanent storage of his image, invoking data protection and his general right to privacy. As the court said, the defendant health insurance had refused the deletion of the photo, on the grounds that the image, for example, needed if the health card is lost or destroyed.

Health insurance is subject to lawsuit: photo must be removed. Image: Jürgen Fälchle - fotolia

But the man got right. As the presiding judge told the news agency "dpa", he had to weigh the bureaucratic burden on the health insurance fund and the right to informational self-determination of the plaintiff. He came to the conclusion that the health fund, if necessary, to obtain a new consent of the man for the preparation of a new card. "We will delete your photo immediately", so the reaction of the lawyer of the health insurance.

Health Card has been phased in since the end of 2011
"The court has decided on an isolated case," explained the man's lawyer. Thus, other stakeholders in the future could not invoke this process, instead, the verdict for the insured may mean that from now on, even a check mark more must be placed on the request - for the promise that the fund may store the photo indefinitely.

So far, the defendant health insurance company had deleted the data of their insured only after termination of the contract. Since 1 October 2011, the electronic health card has been gradually introduced for the statutory health insurance. This replaced the previous health insurance card and is since then as a proof of eligibility for the use of medical services. The card contains data stored next to the insured person's photo, such as Name, date of birth, address and the insurance number. (No)