Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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277. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the current practice of awarding medical cards from the date of decision rather than the date of receipt of the application is causing financial hardship to persons who have incurred medical expenses during the period of assessment and others who have been unable to avail of the examination fees waiver due to the fact they did not hold a medical card on the specified date, as required by the State Examinations Commission, but were awarded the full medical card subsequently; if he will request the HSE to review the guidelines in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47694/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Medical card cover starts from the date the medical card is issued. It should be noted that new applications received for medical cards and GP visit card eligibility where the application does not require additional material or information to enable a comprehensive eligibility assessment are processed within 15 working days.

There are no plans at present to change this policy.