Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 November 2017
23. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Health his plans to review medical card eligibility criteria for persons with disabilities in order to facilitate their participation in the workforce and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48417/17]
View answerCould the Minister tell us his plans to review medical card eligibility criteria for persons with disabilities in order to facilitate their participation in the workforce and to make a statement on the matter?
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I know she has been pursuing in the Oireachtas Committee on Health and with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, and me. An interdepartmental "Make Work Pay" group was set up under the Government's comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities. This group was independently chaired by Professor Frances Ruane and I thank her for the wonderful work she did. The group's report sets out findings and recommendations, some of which deal with the potential loss of a medical card, which can act as a barrier to take-up of employment for persons with disabilities who wish to engage in work and have the capacity to do so. When that report was published, I was struck by the concern people with a disability had about losing the medical card. Be it a real or perceived concern, it was one of the biggest barriers in many cases.
The report made two principal recommendations regarding medical cards and people with disabilities. The first was to raise the medical card income disregard from its current level of €120 per week for people on disability allowance or on partial capacity benefit. I am strongly committed to the implementation of this recommendation. To that end, my Department is working with the HSE and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection in order to assess the number of people who would stand to benefit under this measure and, most importantly, to examine the best administrative route to implementing a change in the earnings disregard. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this work is expected to be completed shortly and it is my intention to implement the recommendation by the end of 2017.
The second recommendation was that the medical card guidelines be amended to remove a requirement that employment be of a "rehabilitative nature" in order for the associated income to be disregarded from the calculation of income when a person with a disability is being assessed for a medical card. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this recommendation has also been accepted and is being implemented by the HSE.
I very much welcome the Minister's news in this regard. Since my appointment as party spokesperson on disability a year and a half ago, I have met with many groups and advocates for people with disabilities. Across the range, this concern is the biggest fear. It is probably the most mentioned issue. People are very afraid that they will lose their medical card. The medical card opens many doors. It is not just about their medicine. Medical support will be required, particularly for people with a permanent disability, which will improve their quality of life but quality of life extends beyond medical care. These people should be allowed to reach their full potential and get a job for which they are qualified.
The Deputy is entirely correct, which is why it is so important that things like the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities are implemented in full. It is the commitment of the Government to do that. The Deputy is right. People with disabilities that the Deputy and I meet do not just want the State to provide them with a support and say "there you go". They want to be able to get on with their lives and be empowered to do so. When one reads the report published by Professor Ruane and the group in April, it is very clear that one of the reasons why people were often afraid to access the workplace was because they could not manage without that medical card because it is a passport for many other services. I am very pleased to accept the recommendation in full. I expect the new income disregard to be brought in by the end of the year. That, coupled with the removal of the necessity for the work to be rehabilitative in nature, should, hopefully, help fulfil two very important recommendations and make a real difference to people with disabilities.
I will be watching closely for that threshold to be changed. A young person in my constituency and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, had an accident in secondary school. He pushed himself through college and faced many barriers in doing so but is now in a very low-paid job. He is totally overqualified for his position but, again, this is down to his fear of losing his medical card. I can only describe him as a bird with his wings caught. He is a very bright and talented young man and the only reason he cannot pursue a career for which he is qualified and able is his fear of losing his medical card. I ask the Minister to keep all that in mind.
Again, I agree with the Deputy. There are many men and women in positions similar to that of that young man. The interdepartmental "Make Work Pay" group was set up as part of our comprehensive employment strategy. It prepared a report with findings and recommendations, some of which deal with exactly the issue referred to by the Deputy, namely, the interaction between holding a medical card and its potential loss as a barrier to persons with a disability fulfilling their employment ambitions. This concern arises due to the way the current system operates because for persons on disability allowance to retain an automatic entitlement to the medical card, an earnings disregard is applied. This means they can only have weekly earnings of up to €120 per week. This is doing exactly what the Deputy said. There are people who can and want to work more, be promoted or go on to new and exciting job opportunities but they need to hang on to that medical card for very good reasons.
The good news is that the majority of people would still qualify for the medical card. However, we need to remove any ambiguity in that regard and that is what the new income disregard will endeavour to do.
