Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The current eligibility system for health services, which has been in place since 1970, is based primarily on financial criteria. The Government has decided to develop a policy framework for eligibility for health services to take account of medical conditions, including new legislation as appropriate, and a HSE clinical expert group is to examine the range of conditions that should be considered as part of this process. The group has been asked to prepare an early report for the Minister for Health in the autumn.

The Government was very concerned about the potential impact on the health of persons with serious illnesses whose discretionary medical cards and GP visit cards had been refused renewal since the centralisation of medical card assessment in 2011. Therefore, in the context of the development of an eligibility policy, the Government decided that medical cards and GP visit cards were to be issued to persons with a serious medical condition or disability who had the renewal of their discretionary card refused by the HSE, having completed an eligibility review during the period from 1 July 2011 to 31 May 2014.

This arrangement applies in the following circumstances: during the period the person held a medical card or GP visit card issued on a discretionary basis but the HSE made a decision to refuse its renewal on foot of a completed eligibility review; the person completed the review process during that period - that is, provided the information and documentation required to assess eligibility; or the person has a serious medical condition which required that his or her case to be referred to a medical officer as part of the review process. It is anticipated that approximately 15,300 cards will be issued to people with serious medical conditions as part of this process. It is estimated that 5,288 people will be issued with a discretionary medical card, 2,899 people will be issued with a discretionary GP visit card and 7,118 people will be moved from a GP visit card to a discretionary medical card.

It is also recognised that a small number of individuals may not have been able to complete their review during the defined period due to circumstances relating to their medical conditions, such as hospitalisation or a change of residence during treatment. Therefore, the director general of the HSE may act on his own initiative, to take account of an ad misericordiamappeal on a case-by-case basis to issue a discretionary card to such a person where he or she has a serious medical condition.

People do not need to make an application to receive a card because the HSE is working through its database as quickly as possible to contact the people concerned over the next few weeks to inform them that their card is being issued. If people do not hear from the HSE by mid-July, they should contact it on its Lo-Call contact number.

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