Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2015
414. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Health his views on the bureaucracy within the Health Service Executive faced by persons acquiring discretionary medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43945/15]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the provisions of the Health Act 1970, medical cards are provided to persons who are, in the opinion of the HSE, unable without undue hardship to arrange GP services for themselves and their dependants. The legislation obliges the HSE, when making a decision on a person’s eligibility, to take account of a person’s financial situation. This requires the provision of information by the applicant.
Every effort is made by the HSE, within the framework of the legislation, to support applicants in applying for a medical card and, in particular, to take full account of difficult circumstances, whether medical or social which might result in undue financial hardship in arranging medical services. In doing so, the HSE may seek additional supporting information which can be, at times, intensive but necessary to ensure a fair discretionary review for applicants whose income has exceeded the income limits.
I recognise that the existing assessment system is complex because it tries to ensure that a wide range of personal circumstances can be taken into account. We are still committed to further improving the existing system and the work of the Clinical Advisory Group on medical card eligibility will be central to this in the immediate future. The Group was established by the Director General of the HSE and is continuing its work on developing a framework for assessment and measurement of the burden of disease and appropriate operational guidelines for the medical card scheme.
As evidenced by the increase in the number of discretionary medical cards in circulation from about 52,000 in mid-2014 to nearly 96,000 at the beginning of November this year, the HSE is exercising greater discretion in its medical cards assessments than ever before.
