Vol. 540 No. 1
253 Mr. P. Carey asked the Minister for Health and Children if persons over 70 years of age and eligible to receive medical cards from 1 July, will be able to claim a refund of medical costs incurred after that date and up to the date when discussions will have been successfully concluded with the Irish Medical Organisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19634/01]
270 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding medical cards soon to be made available to all persons aged 70 years and over; and if the spouse of a qualified person will automatically qualify for a card. [19835/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 253 and 270 together.
Recently I signed the relevant commencement order under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001, to give effect to the Government's budget announcement to introduce automatic eligibility for medical cards to all persons aged 70 years and over with effect from 1 July. The public was notified of this by way of large scale advertisements appearing in the national newspapers on Sunday, 1 July and Monday, 2 July.
I signed the commencement order following agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation on a basis for the extension of the medical card scheme to include this group. The agreement provides for a ballot of the organisation's members on the proposals developed between the negotiators and, if this agreement is accepted, it will apply with effect from 1 July. The IMO has agreed to operate the new scheme on an interim basis pending the outcome of the ballot and, accordingly, no expenditure should be incurred by members of the public entitled to avail of the new arrangements. A similar interim agreement has been reached with the Irish Pharmaceutical Union in respect of prescribed drugs appearing on the common list.
It is not anticipated that any difficulties will arise with these arrangements. If they do, sympathetic consideration will be given to their resolution.
The new arrangements only apply to persons aged 70 or over; eligibility does not extend automatically to dependants, including spouses. Any person aged 70 or over has the option of applying for a medical card in the normal way and, if this application is successful, eligibility would extend to dependants.
