Families and individuals could be contacted via SMS
and email by government agencies about their payments and have
Medicare and Centrelink funds automatically credited to the card.
In an emergency such as Cyclone Larry, relief payments could be
credited to the card, allowing families to buy supplies through
hand-held ATMs that did not require electricity.
The proposed smart card would include a photograph of the bearer
and contact details but would not contain other biometric data such
as fingerprints at this stage.
Human Services Minister Joe Hockey will take the submission to
cabinet outlining options for a smart card.
Under the proposal, up to 20 million smart cards would be issued
across Australia allowing families to secure automatic refunds from
Medicare and faster payments from Centrelink. Patients could get
refunds by swiping their smart card in the EFTPOS machine at the
doctors' surgery.
Government sources said yesterday the smart card was not a
"Trojan horse" for a national ID card, which was being developed
separately as an option by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
Concerns also remained over the cost of the smart card, despite a
cost-benefit analysis prepared by KPMG that the health and welfare
card would pay for itself in four years by reducing fraud and
identity theft.
Over time, the cards could also be used by parents to provide
photo ID when picking up children from childcare.
Government sources said yesterday the proposal would save
"hundreds of millions of dollars a year" in reduced fraud, postage
and administrative costs but would also require significant
investment.
Currently, the human services department estimates around 400,000
letters a day are issued by six government agencies involved in
health and welfare payments.
Currently, Medicare cards contain only the person's name and
Medicare number.
"It's very different to a national ID card," a government source
said.
"The privacy protection for individuals is strong.
"The threat to individuals today is identity theft. This would
protect against that."
The new card would replace up to 17 existing cards including
Medicare cards, healthcare cards and pensioner cards.
On a voluntary basis, families and individuals will also be able
to include medical conditions such as allergies, blood type and
whether the bearer is an organ donor.
Designed to slash red tape and paperwork, the smart cards will
also crack down on fraud surrounding the $90billion in welfare
payments processed by the government each year across Centrelink,
Medicare, aged pensions and pharmaceutical benefits.
The smart cards would also save millions of dollars in postage,
however the sharp reduction in the number of visits families must
make to Medicare and Centrelink to claim benefits could also result
in job losses.
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