Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 117: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on concerns raised by retired teachers and other pensioners over 70 years who will lose their medical card entitlements in March 2009; her views on whether only 5% of pensioners will be affected by this public policy change and that citizens over 80 years are also losing an earlier entitlement at age 80 years to a full medical card. [47331/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The objective of the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme is to ensure that the medical card benefit is available to those who are unable without undue hardship, to meet the cost of health services for themselves and their dependants. I am satisfied that the Government decision to remove automatic entitlement to a medical card for persons aged 70 or over with effect from 1st January 2009 is an effective measure to ensure that public health funding is used to help those most in need.

Under the Health Act 2008, which passed all stages in the Oireachtas and was signed into law on 12th December 2008, automatic entitlement to a medical card for persons aged 70 and over will end on 31st December 2008, and with effect from 1st January, 2009, the income thresholds for entitlement to a medical card for those aged 70 and over will be €700 (gross) per week (€36,500 per year) for a single person and €1,400 (gross) per week (€73,000 per year) for a couple. Persons whose income is above the specified thresholds will have until 2nd March 2009 to advise the Health Service Executive that their income is above those limits. After that date, their medical card will no longer be valid.

Under the new arrangements, it is estimated that approximately 5% (20,000) of the current medical card holders aged 70 and over will no longer qualify for a medical card. The 5% estimate was based on the best available information from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the EU wide survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), which is conducted by the CSO to obtain information on the income and living conditions of different types of households. These EU-SILC tables have been made available to Opposition parties.

In relation to the issue raised by the Deputy that persons over 80 years of age had an earlier entitlement to a medical card, I wish to clarify that Section 1 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 provided a statutory entitlement to persons aged 70 and over to a medical card, regardless of income, with effect from 1st July 2001. Persons aged 80 and over did not have a statutory entitlement to a medical card prior to that date.