KEY POINTS:
More than 4000 Waikato District Health Board patients will receive letters this week asking them to confirm their eligibility to receive taxpayer-funded healthcare.
The patients concerned are recorded in the board's patient computer system as either having been born outside this country or having unknown eligibility.
A change in the computer system at Easter revealed the gaps in its records.
Acting health services general manager Grant Howard said the board now needed to fill in the blanks.
Dr Howard said the letters asked the patients to prove their eligibility by providing a copy of their passport or birth certificate. It was part of government policy the board was required to follow, he said.
"We apologise if you have provided this information previously and the last thing we want is for people to feel offended," he said.
"However, it is critical that we update our records."
Dr Howard said patients would be referred back to their GP if they were ineligible for taxpayer-funded care.
Government funding of health services allows eligible people to receive free inpatient and outpatient public hospital services, subsidies on prescription items and a range of support services.
- NZPA
