Written answers

Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Department of Health and Children

Nursing Homes Repayment Scheme

11:00 pm

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the status of the nursing home refund scheme for the repayment of illegal nursing home charges; the number of claims received and completed to date; the amount refunded to date; the number of applications that have been rejected; the reason they have been rejected; the cost of the scheme; the cost of administering the scheme; the average time for an application to be processed; when she expects the scheme to complete its work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28068/08]

Photo of Mary HarneyMary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has responsibility for administering the health repayment scheme in conjunction with the appointed scheme administrator KPMG/McCann Fitzgerald.

The HSE has informed my Department that since the commencement of the scheme almost 39,000 claims have been received and to 27 June 11,483 payments totalling over €229m have issued while 15,299 offers of repayment totalling over €271m have been made. The HSE have also informed my Department that 12,663 letters of rejection have been sent to applicants who are deemed to fall outside the scheme. There are a variety of reasons for applications being rejected and these include instances where the relevant person died prior to 9 December 1998, where the relevant person resided in an institution not within the scope of the scheme and where duplicate applications were received on behalf of the relevant person.

An allocation of €150m was provided for the scheme in the estimates for 2008. All eligible applications received prior to the closing date will be repaid in full and an appropriate provision will be made as necessary to meet any costs arising under the scheme.

The overall cost of the scheme is expected to be in the region of €390m. The HSE has estimated the administrative costs associated with the scheme to be approximately €25m.

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