According to Doris Pantale?n, a reporter for the List?n Diario, the database for those signed up for health insurance under the new ARS (Administradoras de Riesgos de Salud), similar to the HMOs in North America, shows about 2.37 million errors that must be corrected before 1 September, when the family health system is scheduled to go into operation.
The majority of the errors (1.1 million or 47%) belong to the unit called ARS Salud Segura of the Dominican Institute of Social Security (IDSS), which is soon to be replaced by the new system. Also inaccurate are databases of SENASA and Caribalico, according to Bernardo Defill?, the Health Superintendent. Most of the errors must be manually corrected as they represent omissions of names, c?dula (ID) numbers or dates of affiliation. Dr. Defill? also complained that the Treasury Department has not yet completed the census of employers, and there are as many as 20 of the new ARSs that have not yet handed in their lists of affiliated workers and their families.