The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) yesterday announced that it is to cooperate with local governments to expand a scheme that allows people living in remote areas to have lost or damaged National Health Insurance (NHI) cards reissued by their nearest township offices.
According to administration data, about 1.65 million NHI cards were issued last year, of which 40 percent were issued to replace lost cards, and 30 percent were issued to replace damaged cards.
On June 15, the administration said it has localized the card reissue process at seven remote township offices — Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里) and Chenggong Township (成功), Taitung County’s Dawu Township (大武), Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興), Changhua County’s Fangyuan Township (芳苑) and Pingtung County’s Chunrih Township (春日). People can receive replacement cards in about 15 minutes at the offices.
Before the policy was initiated, people living in remote areas who needed replacement cards had to wait between five and seven days before they could receive a new card through the mail, or to travel to the closest NHIA regional office.
“The NHI card has become a necessity,” NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said. “The need for NHI services among people living in urban or remote areas is the same and the administration should treat them equally.”
He said that as Hualien and Taitung counties are insufficiently serviced by public transportation, it can be expensive for a resident and take many hours for them to travel to a regional office to apply for a new card, so localizing the reissuing process is expected to benefit people living in remote areas.
The NHIA said it plans to cooperate with other counties to establish a total of 10 local card reissue sites by the end of the year.
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