Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2015
167. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Health the number of persons who require chemotherapy, who have a medical card or who obtained a medical card following diagnosis, and who have to pay €75 per treatment for up to ten treatments per year in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44549/15]
View answerAs part of the assessment of Medical Card eligibility, the HSE's National Medical Card Unit (NMCU) does not specifically seek to establish if a person is undergoing chemotherapy treatment; nor does the NMCU collate data routinely on the number of people with a diagnosis of cancer who are granted Medical Card eligibility.
The Health Act 1970 (as amended) provides that all people ordinarily resident in the country are entitled, subject to certain charges, to public in-patient hospital services including consultant services and to public out-patient hospital services. As provided for by the Health (In-Patient Charges) Regulations (S.I. No. 543 of 2008), the current public hospital statutory in-patient charge for public in-patient and day case services is €75 per day, subject to a maximum of €750 in any twelve consecutive months. Currently, in excess of 1.7 million people qualify for a medical card. Under the Health (In-Patient Charges) Regulations, 1987 (S.I. No. 116/1987), medical card holders are exempt from this statutory charge.
