Written answers
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Department of Health and Children
Medical Cards
10:00 am
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 209: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of persons in the State that currently benefit from a full medical card and from a doctor-only medical card; the number of persons in the State benefiting from each of these medical cards at the end of each of the past five years; the number of persons over 70 years of age currently benefiting from each of these medical cards; the number of means test applications that have been processed in total and for those over 70 years of age, in 2008, 2009 and to date 2010; the average waiting time for the processing of such means test applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29409/10]
Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Details of the number of medical cards and GP visit cards are provided to my Department each month by the Health Service Executive (HSE). The figures are provided on a net basis, showing the balance after new cards have been issued and other cards, as appropriate, have been deleted from the Executive's database, e.g. following a review of a person's circumstances. The most recent figures provided to my Department by the HSE reflect the position as at 1st June 2010 and show 1,547,507 medical card holders and 106,373 GP visit card holders on that date.
As at 1st June 2010, the number of medical card holders aged 70 or over was 341,286 and 263 held GP visit cards.
The following table shows the end of year national figure for medical card holders and GP visit card holders for each of the past five years.
Year | Number of Medical Card Holders | Number of GPVisit CardHolders |
31st December 2005 | 1,155,727 | 5,080 |
31st December 2006 | 1,221,695 | 51,760 |
31st December 2007 | 1,276,178 | 75,789 |
31st December 2008 | 1,352,120 | 85,546 |
31st December 2009 | 1,478,560 | 98,325 |
As the other information sought by the Deputy is not provided by the HSE to my Department as a matter of routine, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to address these matters and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the fees General Practitioners are paid in respect of each full medical card, doctor-only medical card and over 70 years medical card; the fees in force at the end of each of the past five years; the total amount paid to GPs for each category of medical card and overall for each of the past five years; if any alterations to this fee structure are currently under consideration; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29410/10]
Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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GPs who hold contracts under the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme with the Health Service Executive (HSE) are remunerated principally on the basis of fees and payments set out in the Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to General Practitioners) Regulations 2009. Prior to that, these fees and payments had been agreed as part of the GMS GP contract and amended as appropriate in line with normal wage agreements. Included among these fees are more than 50 different capitation fees. The fees vary depending on the age and gender of the patient and the distance he or she lives from the GP's surgery. For example, fees currently range from €76.98 for a male patient under 5 years living 3 miles or less from the GP's surgery to €218.37 for a female aged 65-70 years living more than 10 miles from the surgery. In addition, there are special capitation rates of €280.31 for persons over 70 residing at home and €896.07 for persons over 70 residing in private nursing homes. There are also a range of additional payments; for example, in respect of out-of-hours consultations, temporary residents, special items of services (e.g. suturing), panel size, practice support allowances and locum expenses.
In 2009, payments to GPs for services provided under the GMS and other primary care schemes amounted to €489,862 million. A detailed breakdown of this figure is not yet available. The total payments to GPs over the years 2004 to 2008 for the GMS Scheme are set out in the table below.
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | |
(000's) | (000's) | (000's) | (000's) | (000's) | |
Total Payments | €459,476 | €427,418 | €391,029 | €403,071 | €306,250 |
I have recently completed the review of the operation, effectiveness and impact of the amounts and rates fixed by the Regulations mentioned above. This review was carried out in accordance with Section 9 (13) of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act (FEMPI) 2009.
Following this review, I have decided to initiate a consultation process under the FEMPI Act to explore the scope for further reductions in fees paid to General Practitioners. An appropriate public announcement will be made when the consultation process commences.
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