Insurance number: what is its meaning and use?

Chapters of the article

What is the purpose of an insurance number?
Is the insurance number the same as the birth number?
Foreigners and the insurance number

An insurance number is a special number used by health insurance companies to identify and track an individual’s health insurance. It is assigned to individual insured persons and shown on their health insurance cards. It is usually found on the front of the card, and in relation to it on other official documents. It is unique for each insured person.

Tip: In the Czech Republic, when a child is born, he or she automatically becomes insured by the health insurance company of the mother on the day of birth. Newborns therefore have health insurance through the mother and are covered by her insurance company.

If the mother of the newborn has valid health insurance, she does not have to register the newborn separately with the health insurance company. However, she should inform the health insurer of the birth of the child so that the necessary information is updated and the correct registration of the newborn is ensured. However, this is usually done automatically, through the maternity hospital.

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What is the purpose of the insurance number?

The main purpose of the insurance number is

to identify and track individuals within their health insurance – this number will allow us to ensure correct matching of patient information, identification of the insured person and recording of their health data, medical history, treatment and reimbursement of healthcare related costs. This facilitates communication and data sharing between different healthcare providers and ensures that the patient receives the medical care they need. Healthcare providers can also use the insurance number to access the patient’s medical records.
reimbursement: the insurance number allows the tracking and billing of costs associated with the insured person’s healthcare.

Is the insurance number the same as the birth number?

As a rule, there is an equivalence between the two numbers. Permanent residents quote their birth number from their birth certificate or ID card as their insurance number, while the nine-digit birth number for persons born before 1953 is not a zero:
Example: 490415152.

Persons born after 1954 have a ten-digit birth number. It is always designed in such a way that the date of birth and the sex of the person concerned can be determined from it.
The purpose of the birth number is to uniquely identify an individual within the context of citizenship and is used in many different areas of government, such as various registries, tax offices, the welfare system, etc. The handling of the birth number must meet certain requirements, which are regulated by special legislation. It is considered personal data and its handling falls under the GDPR.

Tip: The first two numbers of the birth number are the year of birth, the next two are the month of birth and the third two are the day of birth. In order to determine gender from the birth number, the second two numbers are added to the second two numbers for women. The next three digits after the slash indicate the order of birth on that day. The last digit of the number after the slash is for checking the validity and correctness of the birth number and is added so that the sum of the four numbers from the data part before the slash and the three numbers after it is divisible by eleven without remainder.

Foreigners and insurance number

Foreigners who are staying in the Czech Republic for a long period of time will initially receive an insurance registration number (EČP) from the district social security administration.
If the foreigner has not yet been assigned an insurance number, he or she fills in the “Existing insurance number” field on the forms, indicating his or her gender and date of birth.

Over time , foreigners may also be assigned a birth number. A foreigner who is not allowed to stay in the Czech Republic for more than 90 days and who has applied for a birth number in order to fulfil the conditions under special legislation (e.g. for study or employment purposes) may apply for a birth number.

If the foreigner is allowed to stay in the Czech Republic for more than 90 days, the birth number is assigned ex officio by the Ministry of the Interior – Department of Asylum and Migration Policy, competent according to the place of the foreigner’s permitted residence. It is therefore not necessary to apply for one. The request for a birth number is dealt with by the staff of the Asylum and Migration Policy Department, as a rule, during the first visit of the foreigner to the department (for example, when registering after arrival in the territory or when applying for a registration certificate).

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