asked the Minister for Health what the definition of an insured worker is in accordance with paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 15 of the Health Act, 1953.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Health Services for Insured Workers.
8.
The definition of an insured person for the purpose of this paragraph is that contained in the Social Welfare Acts (viz. manual employed workers and other employed persons with annual means less than £800, exception from inclusion being made for specified categories) but, under the General Institutional and Specialist Services (Amendment) Regulations 1956, it is provided that an insured person to be eligible for services under Section 15 of the Health Act, 1953, must have had at least one contribution paid or credited since the beginning of the last but one contribution year before the date of the application for services or, where the applicant is over seventy, the date on which he reached that age. Voluntary contributors under the Social Welfare Acts are also eligible for services under Section 15 of the 1953 Act.
9.
asked the Minister for Health whether the income of an insured worker as referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of Section 15 of the Health Act, 1953 is taken into account in regard to maintenance and specialist services under Section 15.
An insured person, within the meaning of the Health Acts and the Regulations under those Acts, is eligible for institutional and specialist services irrespective of his means. However, in the case of insured persons who are not in the lower income group, charges, up to a maximum of 10/- a day, may be made by the health authority for services given as in-patients. In deciding what, if any, such charge should be made in any case, the health authority would have regard to the means of the insured person as well as to other factors. Charges for out-patient specialist services are also payable by insured persons outside the lower income group.
Would the Minister say whether it is the income of the individual worker or the income of the household that is taken into consideration.
I am not sure about that but I think it is the income of the household.