Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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1415. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the refusal of medical cards to certain cohorts (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37754/13]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Under the provisions of the Health Act 1970, eligibility for health services in Ireland is based primarily on residency and means including the income and reasonable expenditure, of the applicant and his or her partner and dependants. Therefore, there is no automatic entitlement to medical cards for persons of any age, solely relating to illness. Under the legislation, determination of eligibility for a medical card is the responsibility of the HSE.

While there is no automatic entitlement to a medical card for persons with specific illnesses, the HSE has, however, discretion to award a medical card to avoid undue hardship, even where the person exceeds the income guidelines. At the request of the Minister, the HSE set up a clinical panel to assist in the processing of applications for medical cards on a discretionary basis, where a person exceeds the income guidelines but there are difficult personal circumstances, such as an illness.

The HSE has an effective system in place for the provision of emergency medical cards for patients who are terminally ill, or who are seriously ill and in urgent need of medical care that they cannot afford. They are issued within twenty-four hours of receipt of the required patient details and the letter of confirmation of the condition from a doctor or a medical consultant. With the exception of terminally ill patients, the HSE issues all emergency cards on the basis that the patient is eligible for a medical card on the basis of means or undue hardship, and that the applicant will follow up with a full application within a number of weeks of receiving the emergency card. As a result, emergency medical cards are issued to a named individual, with a limited eligibility period of six months.