Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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672. To ask the Minister for Health why discretionary medical cards are now only being renewed for a period of six months; his plans for such card holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12758/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with the provisions of the Health Act 1970 (as amended), eligibility for a medical card is based primarily on the undue financial hardship test. The Act obliges the HSE to assess whether a person is unable, without undue hardship, to arrange general practitioner services for himself or herself and his or her family, having regard to his or her overall financial position and reasonable expenditure, and every application must be assessed on that basis.

Every effort is made by the HSE, within the framework of the legislation, to support applicants in applying for a medical card and, in particular, to take full account of the difficult circumstances in the case of applicants who may be in excess of the income guidelines. In certain circumstances, the HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card, even though an applicant exceeds his or her income threshold, where he or she faces difficult financial circumstances, such as extra costs arising from an illness. Social and medical issues are considered when determining whether undue hardship exists for an individual accessing general practitioner or other medical services.

The Programme for Partnership Government 2016 commits to maintaining a humane approach for discretionary medical card provision. Under this approach numbers of discretionary cards has risen from 52,232 in June 2104 to 104,671 in May 2016. The Deputy may be aware of the "Keane" Report of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibilitywith a key recommendation that a person’s means should remain the main qualifier for a medical card. It also recommended that it is neither feasible nor desirable to list conditions in priority order for medical card eligibility.

The Clinical Advisory Group was established by the Director General of the HSE in January 2015 to provide clinical oversight and guidance to the operation of a more compassionate and trusted medical card system. Its establishment followed the completion of the work of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibility. The Group is continuing its work on the development of guidance on assessing medical card applications involving significant medical conditions. The Clinical Advisory Group continues to meet on regular basis and it is expected that the Group will make a report to the Director General of the HSE when it has completed its work in the near future.

In mid-2014, approximately 11,000 discretionary medical cards were re-issued for a year to enable more sensitive arrangements to be put in place by the HSE. In order to see further implementation of the administrative arrangements, these cards have been previously extended in 2015. It is expected that the Clinical Advisory Group will report to the Director General of the HSE in the near future on improvements to take account of the burden of a disease on an individual. In light of the expected report of the Clinical Advisory Group to the Director General of the HSE, it was decided to extend these cards by a further 6 months in order to allow time for the Minister and the HSE to consider the Clinical Advisory Group's report