Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2022
804. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Health if there is a cap on the amount that a general practitioner can charge for filling out a medical report on applications for a driver's licence, housing adaptations, social welfare payments and so on; and if there is a requirement to charge medical card holders a lower fee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32487/22]
View answerUnder the terms of the GMS contract, GPs are required to provide eligible patients with ''all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a general practitioner and not requiring special skill or experience of a degree or kind which general practitioners cannot reasonably be expected to possess". Persons who hold a medical card or a GP visit card are not subject to any co-payments or other charges in respect of such services including GP consultations.
However, the contract stipulates that certain medical certificates which may be required, for example, "under the Social Welfare Acts or for the purposes of insurance or assurance policies or for the issue of driving licences" are not included in the terms of the contract. Any fees charged by GPs for services provided outside the terms of the GMS contract are a matter of private contract between the GP and their patient, and the Minister has no role in the setting of such fees.
