Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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664. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline the process for the renewal of a medical card; and if he will state the circumstances whereby an automatic renewal occurs. [35949/13]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has the operational responsibility for the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme, which includes the medical card and GP visit card benefits. When a medical card comes up for review, the current circumstances of the medical card holder are evaluated by the HSE to ensure that he/she continues to hold eligibility and that this involves a standard review process. In the interest of probity, the HSE is obliged to ensure that a person’s eligibility is correctly recorded in line with the eligibility legislation and the national guidelines. Medical card reviews/renewal forms are issued to medical card clients three months in advance of their eligibility review date in order to give clients sufficient time to complete the review form and to provide the required evidence of income, etc.

Clients are requested to return completed review forms at least one month in advance of the review date in order to give the HSE sufficient time to carry out the review and/or to contact the client if the application is incomplete or further information is required. The HSE will issue a reminder letter to the client if the review form is not received by the Executive within one month of the review date. Where a review is not completed by the review date, it is HSE policy to extend the eligibility of the client until the review is carried out and a final decision is made on the client’s eligibility status at that time.

The renewal process is an important quality assurance aspect of the management of the various schemes operated by the HSE.