How to activate SPID with a Health Card
For bureaucratic matters, the time has come for you to activate the SPID , that is the digital identity useful for accessing the services of the Public Administration online (and not only). The problem, however, is that up to now you have not understood much about its activation procedure and the information you have is rather vague and confusing: you are certain, however, that it is possible to obtain the SPID through the Health Card, even if not you know how.
If this is indeed the case, I am happy to dispel your doubts and help you in this “enterprise”. In the course of this tutorial, in fact, I will explain how to activate SPID with a Health Card , explaining the procedures useful for this purpose and indicating the list of documents you must have.
How do you say? Does that sound complicated to you? Not at all! Activating the SPID is a rather simple and fast procedure, which does not require any particular IT or technical skills. By following all the precautions in the next paragraphs, I am sure you will not encounter any particular problems, I promise!
Index
- How to activate SPID with a Health Card
- How to activate SPID Aruba with a Health Card
- How to activate SPID Poste with a Health Card
- How to activate SPID with an expired Health Card
How to activate SPID with a Health Card
Before starting, let’s clarify the question: the Health Card-National Service Card (abbreviated to TS-CNS ) is an alternative to the SPID and the CIE (Electronic Identity Card) useful for accessing the various services of the Public Administration, but it can also be used to create the SPID credentials as a method of recognition.
The Health Card, however, must be activated and it is not possible to use it as it is to access the various online services. To proceed it is therefore necessary to go to an authorized counter of the Health Authorities of your region to which you belong and request the PIN code , the PUK code and the CIP code of your card.
To check which counters are enabled, you can go to the official website of your Region and look for, in the list of online services, the item HEALTH CARD – NATIONAL CARD OF TS-CNS SERVICES (or similar). Before going physically to the counter, remember to bring your TS , your Identity Card (or other valid identity document) and an active e-mail address (and not necessarily a PEC ) with you.
Alternatively, for a fee of 3 euros , you can also activate your Health Card at the pharmacy (not all of them, for the moment, have this service) by presenting yourself with a TS and a valid identity document .
In both cases, however, you will be provided with a form to request your codes in which you offer your consent to the processing of personal data. Part of the code will be reported on a document that will be delivered to you, the other part will be sent to you at the email address you provided or in paper format, if you prefer.
Once you have the complete PIN, PUK and CIP codes, you must equip your PC to be able to use the newly activated card. To do this you need to purchase a smart card reader (compliant with the international PC / SC standard , ISO 7816-3 standard and CCID specifications ), install it and install the relevant drivers. Furthermore, the most recent cards with contactless support require a relative reader.
As far as installation is concerned, readers with CCID do not need any special procedures: all you have to do, therefore, is connect it to your Windows PC or Mac via the USB port. Different speech, however, for the drivers : in this case it is necessary to download the specific one of the TC-CNS for your operating system and type of Health Card.
To proceed, connected to this official page of the Health Card System (or to the web address shown on the document issued at the time of the request), identify the driver you need based on the type of card, the abbreviation (which is also shown on the card itself) and to the operating system of your PC, and click on the relative link under the heading PAPER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE . After that, double-click on the downloaded file (or on the Setup file if a .zip file is downloaded ) and follow the on-screen wizard to start the installation. Once done, restart your PC.
Now check that the procedure has been successful and that the card management software has been installed correctly: insert the card into the reader and connect the reader to the PC, then right-click on the card management program (normally represented from the icon of a microchip) and from the opened menu select the Manager item by pressing on it with the left button. Now click on the Certificates and keys tab in the opened panel, enter the PIN in the appropriate field and, if everything is successful, you can view your perfectly functional certificate.
Now all that remains is to perform the first access with the Health Card and register it, in order to then use it for access to the PA. Then connect to this Web page dedicated to Citizen Services , then click on Register CNS and, in the new panel opened, click on the OK button . Now, in the further panel that you see open, enter the card PIN , then press the Verify button to complete the registration. At this point, still on the same web page, clicking on the CNS Login link should automatically enter your Reserved Area .
Once all this has been done, it is possible to request the SPID using the Health Card at one of the many enabled Identity Providers , as you will find explained in the next paragraphs in which I will give you some practical examples.
How to activate SPID Aruba with a Health Card
If you have decided to use the SPID Aruba digital identity manager and want to know how to activate SPID with the Health Card , the procedure to follow is as follows: connect to the Aruba web page dedicated to SPID and press the Activate Aruba ID for citizen button ( The service is free). Then, on the page that opened, select the recognition mode you want to use, in this case With the National Service Card (CNS) , by clicking on the relevant button Choose this mode and then on the Continue button .
At this point you decide whether to verify the correct activation of your Health Card, by connecting the reader to the computer, inserting the card in it and pressing the Verify button . Alternatively, you can also do it at a later time by clicking on the item I will do it during registration.
Now decide whether or not to add the other available services and press the Continue button , then proceed with the registration by pressing the appropriate button and completing all the required fields with your personal data and, once completed, click the Continue with the registration . Once this is done, choose a secure password to use and press the Continue with registration button again .
You just have to read the contracts by putting the check mark next to the declarations, press the Continue button and wait to receive an email from Aruba to your email address previously entered in the form.
After a few hours you will receive an email containing the link to proceed with the activation of the Aruba SPID with recognition via TS; click on it and, on the page that opened, put a check mark next to all the items, read the information and press the Continue button .
Now verify the phone number and email , then generate a username (which corresponds to your email address) and a password for your SPID, then fill out the form with the required personal data and proceed with the recognition: connect the smart card reader to the PC, insert the Health Card inside it and press the button Make the recognition , then select your certificate from the panel that you see open, click on the OK button , enter the PIN of the card and press the OK button again .
All you have to do is complete the rest of the procedure by following the on-screen instructions by creating the account on the Aruba OTP app for using Level 2 security, included in the configuration. Once this is done, your SPID will be activated.
How to activate SPID Poste with a Health Card
With Poste Italiane you can get the SPID through your Health Card in a very similar way to what was seen for Aruba . Also in this case it is a free service that can be activated from the comfort of your home in less than 5 minutes, given that the procedure to be followed is really streamlined.
First of all, then, connect to the Poste Italiane web page dedicated to the creation of the SPID and select, as the recognition method, the National Service Card option by placing the check mark next to the aforementioned item. Then connect the smart card reader to your PC via the USB port, insert the Health Card and press the Start Identification button .
Once this is done, in the opened panel, select your certificate , press the OK button and, when prompted, type your personal PIN and then press the OK button again . Now wait a few seconds, until you see a new page: at this point enter the email address and password that will be your SPID credentials, then enter your phone number , confirm it using the code received via SMS , fill in all the required fields with your personal information and check the General Conditions of the Service.
Your SPID is ready: you will receive a confirmation email from Poste Italiane containing the code for the immediate suspension of the credentials, useful for suspending the credentials in case of need.
At the moment of activation, the SPID uses Level 2 but it is possible to activate the Level 3 credentials for free by accessing the SPID through the appropriate Poste Italiane web page using your digital identity management panel. If you need more information on the Post Office SPID , consult my dedicated guide.
How to activate SPID with an expired Health Card
The SPID, in the event of an expired Health Card, can also be activated by showing the card of the Tax Code (or the same card, given that in the event of expiry the Tax Code continues to be valid because it is registered with the Revenue Agency) or the certificate of attribution of the Tax Code produced by the Revenue Agency. In this case, however, it is useful to choose another recognition method among those proposed by your digital identity manager, such as that in the office or recognition through a certified mobile number.
In any case, if the new Health Card has not arrived by post at your residential address following the expiry date, it is useful to go to your ASL or any Office of the Revenue Agency since, most likely, it has gone lost due to some anomaly.