The position is that everyone who is ordinarily resident in Ireland has either category one or category two eligibility for health services, depending on personal income. People with category one eligibility receive a medical card and can avail of services under the general medical services (GMS) scheme. Entitlement to a medical card is means tested and depends on personal income and circumstances. A medical card normally covers the card holder, his or her spouse and any children under 16. It also covers people over 16, such as students, who are dependant on the medical card holder. The decision on whether a person is regarded as a dependent or not is made by the relevant health board on the basis of personal circumstances. Similarly, in the case of an individual who is living in the family home and who is applying for a medical card in his or her own right, health boards take the individual's income and circumstances into account when deciding on the application.
People who are ordinarily resident in Ireland, but who do not qualify for a medical card, automatically have category two eligibility and are entitled to services available to people in this category, including the community drugs schemes. In the case of the community drugs schemes, the Health Act, 1970 provides for health boards to meet the balance of the cost or proportion thereof of expenditure incurred by a person on drugs, medicines and surgical appliances which were prescribed by a registered medical practitioner and were for the treatment of the person or his or her dependants.
