John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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194. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to raise medical card income disregard for persons with disabilities entering the workforce; when he plans to make these changes; the amount he will increase the income disregard by; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5026/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to ensuring that the recommendation included in the The Make Work Pay for People with Disabilities Report to raise the medical card income disregard from its current level of €120 per week for people on Disability Allowance or on Partial Capacity Benefit is implemented. The Department of Health has been working with the HSE and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to progress proposals to give effect to this recommendation. Analysis has been undertaken to examine the number of people that would stand to benefit under this measure and to identify the best administrative route to implementing a change in the earnings disregard.

This work is nearing completion and it is intended to implement the recommendation in early 2018. This will be ahead of the Report's recommended implementation date of Q4 2018.