Not possessing a c?dula, the national ID and voter registration card, has disallowed the inclusion of 30 percent of potential participants in the Social Security System in Region IV (Pedernales, Bahoruco, Barahona and Independencia provinces). Individuals without this document, or even a birth certificate, have been refused by the Social Security Treasury Department from participating in the program by virtue of the fact that the affiliate?s Social Security Number must be compatible with the person?s c?dula number, according to current accounting software. In the lead story in today?s Hoy newspaper, Dr. Bernard Defillo, the Superintendent of Labor Injuries and Health, while recognizing the problem, says that it is totally unacceptable that 30 percent of the subsidized workforce be excluded from the benefits of the system. In Region IV, there are 361,000 people whose medical histories are registered in the system. Defillo considers the problem to be a ?Gordian Knot? for the system to untangle. ?How is it possible to keep 30 percent of the target population out of the system?? he pondered. During the breakfast with the Corripio Communications Group, Defillo said that the 71 providers of health services reported that between 5 and 30 percent of the recipients of their services do not have the necessary documents.
