Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 June 2014
60. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the number of persons that will not have their discretionary medical card reinstated as part of the recent announcement to reinstate a quantity of discretionary medical cards; the reasons for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27047/14]
View answerThe Government has decided to develop a policy framework for providing eligibility for health services to take account of medical conditions, including new legislation as appropriate and a HSE clinical expert group is to examine the range of conditions that should be considered as part of this process. The group has been asked to make an early report to the Minister for Health in the autumn.
The Government was very concerned about the potential impacts on the health of persons with serious illnesses whose discretionary medical cards and GP visit cards were refused renewals since the centralisation of medical card assessment in 2011. Therefore, in the context of the above eligibility policy development, the Government has decided to issue medical cards and GP visit cards to these people. The Government recently approved the method by which medical cards and GP visit cards, awarded by way of discretion, can issue to persons with serious medical conditions where renewal was refused having completed an eligibility review.
The cards will issue in the following circumstances:
- During the period, the person held a medical card or GP visit card issued on a discretionary basis, but the HSE made a decision to refuse its renewal on foot of a completed eligibility review;
- The person completed the review process during that period, i.e. provided the information and documentation required to assess their eligibility;
- The person has a serious medical condition, i.e., which required that their case was referred to a Medical Officer as a part of the review process.
It is anticipated that over 15,000 cards will issue to people with serious medical conditions as part of this process. However, until the HSE has completed its examination on a case by case basis, it is not possible to provide a definitive figure. Furthermore, it is also recognised that a small number of individuals may not have been able to complete their review during this period due to circumstances relating to their medical condition, e.g., hospitalisation during treatment, change of residence during treatment. Therefore, the Director General of the HSE may act, on his own initiative, to take account of an ad misericordiam appeal (an appeal “to pity”) on a case by case basis to issue a discretionary card to such a person that has a serious medical condition.
