News Release Archive
HEALTH--REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR HEALTH CARD ----------------------------------------------------------------- Renewing your card is an important step to ensure continuous health coverage. A health card must be presented every time a provincial health program is used, and it is the responsibility of the individual, not the physician, to ensure the card is up-to-date. Approximately 20,000 health cards are now due for renewal each month. A renewal notice is sent out three months prior to the expiry date, which is clearly embossed on the front of each card. The information on the renewal notice must be verified and the notice must be returned promptly to Nova Scotia Medical Services Insurance (MSI). Anyone using an expired health card, may be asked to pay for the service rendered. Health card renewal helps to keep important information up-to-date to support appropriate program planning and reduce the risk of fraud. Posters have been sent to physicians' offices and hospitals to remind the public to keep their health cards up-to-date. And between renewals, any address change should be immediately sent to Nova Scotia Medical Services Insurance (MSI), P.O. Box 500, Halifax, N.S., B3J 2S1. The new health card was introduced in 1994 and the first round of renewal dates is staggered over four years until 1999. The cards will be renewed again every four years following the first round of current renewals. In addition, anyone who wants to donate organs can now have the information recorded on the Nova Scotia health card. The health cards of Nova Scotians who wish to be organ donors are issued with the word "Donor" embossed on the front. The organ donation section of the health card renewal notice should be filled out if the cardholder wishes to be an organ donor. -30- Contact: Lori MacLean 902-424-5025 trp June 12, 1996 - 11:30 a.m.