Vol. 385 No. 6
asked the Minister for Health the reason small farmers' assistance is taken into account in the assessment of means for medical cards and is often used as a reason for the denial of a medical card when the assistance itself is means tested by the Department of Social Welfare and is paid only to the extent that means are less than the maximum unemployment assistance rate, at which rate there is full entitlement to a medical card.
238.
asked the Minister for Health whether the assessment of small farmers' income for medical card entitlement is different from the assessment of the same income for small farmers' assistance; and if so, the reason.
I propose to take Questions No. 237 and 238 together.
Determination of eligibility for a medical card in any particular case is a matter for the Chief Executive Officer of the appropriate health board. Income guidelines are available to assist chief executive officers in reaching a decision about a person's entitlement and to ensure uniformity of decisions in the different health boards.
In deciding a person's entitlement all income from all sources is taken into account.
The administration of small farmers' assistance is a matter for the Minister for Social Welfare. However, I understand that, in accordance with statutory requirements, when assessing means for the purpose of this assistance income from investments or other capital is taken into account and the capital itself is disregarded. The Deputy will appreciate that when assessing means for medical card purposes the availability of capital may well be taken into account by the Chief Executive Officer of a health board when deciding whether a person is, without undue hardship, able to arrange general practitioner, medical and surgicial services for himself and his dependants.
I might add that I expect to receive in the near future a report from a working group which I set up to examine means testing arrangements in these areas and to determine the extent to which co-ordination can be improved.
