Stability of Mituelle and RAMA as long term IDs

I asked Richard if the Mituelle or RAMA IDs change- and this is his response:

Yes they change. For Mituelle, these numbers are issued at sector (health center) level and if one moves from one sector to go and live in another sector he/she will be issued a new number. If a person renews their membership at the same sector however, they are issued the same number....but it is likely that if by the time one is renewing their membership they do not have an old card they may be issued a new number.

In Rama as well when you move from one organization to another you signed up afresh and you are assigned a new number. They are trying to go electronic so this may not be the case in the near future but it is also unreliable.

Having said all that though, if combined with other numbers the insurance number can increase the chances of identifying some one. I have been discussing with the health financing department and we have agreed that every Rwandese should have a mituelle number whether affiliated with other health insurances or not. This may however, not be necessary if we assign unique identifier for health in the CR....we can discuss this further