The HSE has advised that it has not undertaken a financial modelling exercise to estimate the cost for the provision of medical cards to all persons in the 0-69 age cohorts.
Neither the Department of Health nor the HSE records population data. I can, however, advise the Deputy that the latest CSO statistical release of August 2015 on population data shows an estimated population of 4.2 million in the 0-69 age cohorts.
The average cost of a medical card is reported in the HSE's Primary Care Reimbursement Service Statistical Analysis of Claims and Payments 2013 as €973.26.