Written answers

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Department of Health

Medical Card Eligibility

Photo of Arthur SpringArthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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414. To ask the Minister for Health the procedures in place for applying for an emergency medical card; the way the application procedure and the application processing procedure differs from the standard medical card application. [35890/14]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Medical cards are provided to persons who, under the provisions of the Health Act 1970, are, in the opinion of the HSE unable, without undue hardship, to arrange GP services for themselves and their dependants. The assessment for a medical card is determined primarily by reference to the means, including the income and expenditure of the applicant and his or her partner and dependants. Standard medical card scheme applications and those for persons aged 70 and older generally require supporting financial and/or medical documentation to be furnished in order for the application to be assessed in line with the HSE’s Medical Card and GP Visit Card National Assessment Guidelines and application forms can be accessed online/by post or at local health offices.

However, this process differs in the case of persons seeking emergency medical cards. 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. Medical cards that are applied for in an emergency situation 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. Such an application can be initiated through the Local Health office and details of this procedure are available to all GP's and Social Workers.

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.

For persons with a terminal illness, a means test does not apply. Once the terminal illness is verified by a GP or Consultant, patients are given an emergency medical card for six months. Given the nature and urgency of the issue, the HSE has appropriate escalation routes to ensure that the person gets the card as quickly as possible. For the purpose of the decision making process for an emergency medical card, in these circumstances, a "terminal illness", or a person who is "terminally ill, is a person who is certified by a Doctor or a Consultant as "terminally ill" and is in a palliative care situation. Terminally ill means that the person is suffering from an illness that will end in death, where there is no possibility of recovery and the person is more likely to die of their illness in the next six months than not.

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