Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 May 2014
112. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Health the rate of interest on savings used to assess earnings for the purpose of medical card applications and-or reviews; and the way this rate is calculated [23421/14]
View answerThe interest rate, to which the Deputy refers, is only relevant to the supplementary assessment process for medical cards for persons aged 70 years and over, where means testing is on a gross income basis. For the purposes of assessment for this medical card, savings or similar investments of €36,000 for a single person or €72,000 for a couple are disregarded. For amounts in excess of these limits, the applicant can have the actual interest rate that s/he received applied to the savings by providing a certificate of interest paid in the last full calendar year, or alternatively can have the current notional rate applied. It is always the applicants choice to have the actual interest rate or the notional rate applied.
The notional rate is set by the HSE quarterly by taking an average of the current deposit interest rates of a number of the major Irish Banks & Building Societies, e.g. regular saver deposits, instant access deposits, three month and six month deposits, one year fixed deposits, five year fixed deposits and 10 year savings bonds. The notional rate is 2.3 % with effect from 1st January 2014 and remains unchanged for Quarter 2.
