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Medical Card Eligibility

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 November 2013

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Questions (185, 190)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

185. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health if particular steps have been taken to ensure that those with specific or severe health needs or conditions are allowed to maintain their medical cards notwithstanding the budgetary situation he inherited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48543/13]

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Bernard Durkan

Question:

190. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the steps he has taken to ensure that medical cards are not arbitrarily withdrawn from persons with severe terminal illness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48548/13]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 185 and 190 together.

Under Section 45 of the Health Act 1970, as amended, persons who are unable, without due hardship, to arrange a general practitioner service for themselves or their family qualify for a medical card. There is no automatic entitlement to a medical card for persons with a specific illness or disability.

Under this legislation, the determination of eligibility for a medical card is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive. Section 45 requires the HSE to have regard to a person's, and their spouse or partner's overall financial situation in view of their reasonable expenditure. The HSE gives effect to this legislation and Government policy through its Medical Card National Assessment Guidelines.

Where a person's income is in excess of the income thresholds set out in the National Assessment Guidelines, the HSE uses its discretion to grant a medical card to a person who is unable, due to undue hardship, to arrange a GP service. In doing so, the HSE is obliged to have regard to the financial situation and expenditure of the individual and his or her dependents.

Since the beginning of 2011, the Government has taken measures and provided funding to ensure that an additional quarter of a million people have a medical card. Over 40% of the population now hold a medical card, which is the highest proportion since records began.

The HSE has an effective system in place for the provision of emergency medical cards for patients who are terminally ill in palliative care, or who are seriously ill and in urgent need of medical care that they cannot afford. They are issued within twenty-four hours of receipt of the required patient details and the letter of confirmation of the condition from a doctor or a medical consultant. With the exception of terminally ill patients in palliative care, the HSE issues all emergency cards on the basis that the patient is eligible for a medical card on the basis of means or undue hardship, and that the applicant will follow up with a full application within a number of weeks of receiving the emergency card. As a result, emergency medical cards are issued to a named individual, with a limited eligibility period of six months.

For persons with a terminal illness in palliative care, no means test applies. Once the terminal illness is verified, patients are given an emergency medical card for six months. Given the nature and urgency of the issue, the HSE has appropriate escalation routes to ensure that the person gets the card as quickly as possible.

Renewal assessment forms automatically issue to the holders of all medical card or GP visit cards, three months prior to the expiry date of the card.

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