Vol. 486 No. 2
74 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children whether his attention has been drawn to the severe distress that can be caused for those who lose their medical cards or whose applications are rejected as being marginally over the financial eligibility limits; and his views on the merit of introducing medical cards giving partial or limited entitlements to people in this category. [2081/98]
Medical cards are issued to persons who, in the opinion of the chief executive officer of the appropriate health board, are unable, without undue hardship, to provide general practitioner medical and surgical services for themselves and their dependants. Income guidelines are drawn up by the chief executive officers to assist in the determination of a person's eligibility and these guidelines are revised annually in line with the consumer price index. However, these guidelines are not statutorily binding and even though a person's income exceeds the guidelines, that person may still be awarded a medical card if the chief executive officer considers that the person's medical needs or other circumstances would justify this.
The number of eligibility categories for entitlement to health services was reduced from three to two as a result of the Health (Amendment) Act, 1991. This followed the detailed analysis of the eligibility system by the Commission on Health Funding and its recommendation of measures to simplify the system and make it more equitable. In particular, the commission found that there were major problems and inequities inherent in allocating non-medical card holders to more than one eligibility category on income grounds. These problems were removed when the new eligibility system came into effect.
