Mark Ward
Ceist:277. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 231 of 12 May 2021, the reason the medical card threshold for over 70’s is not given to those at retirement age. [28091/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 30 June 2021
Ceisteanna (277)
Freagraí scríofa
Medical Card provision is primarily based on financial assessment. In accordance with the Health Act 1970 (as amended), eligibility for a medical card is determined by the HSE. The HSE assesses each application on a qualifying financial threshold. This is the amount of money that an individual can earn a week and still qualify for a card. It is specific to the individual’s own financial circumstances.
Persons aged 69 and under are assessed under the general means tested medical card thresholds which are based on an applicant’s household income after tax; PRSI and the Universal Social Charge (USC) have been deducted. Certain expenses are also taken into account, i.e. mortgage payments, which helps to increase the amount a person can earn and still qualify for a medical card.
Regarding persons aged 70 or older, the medical card assessment is based on gross income. As noted in Parliamentary Question 231 of 12 May 2021, this assessment process was introduced for this cohort only, by way of the Health Act 2008, as a means to replace the automatic entitlement to a medical card for people aged 70 years and over. The new gross income arrangements were therefore introduced on that basis and provided for the vast majority of people aged 70 years and over to continue to hold medical cards under the new income thresholds. The weekly gross income thresholds for eligibility to a medical card for those aged 70 and over were recently increased in November 2020 and are currently €550 per week for a single person general means tested medical card scheme which is based on an applicant’s household income after tax; PRSI and the Universal Social Charge (USC) have been deducted. Certain expenses are also taken into account, i.e. mortgage payments, which helps to increase the amount a person can earn and still qualify for a medical card.
There are no plans at present to revise the current age cohorts for the different medical card assessment processes.