Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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278. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason persons in receipt of illness benefit must pay a €10 charge to their general practitioner to have a medical certificate completed in order to claim their illness benefit; if the matter will be reviewed in circumstances in which they are medical card holders; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46406/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department would like to be clear that, as before, patients do not need to pay a fee to receive claim forms or medical certificates (IB1 and MED1 forms) from their GP, as the Department pays the doctor an agreed fee to provide them. 

Should any person seeking to make a claim for Illness Benefit or another scheme experience a difficulty in getting a claim form or a medical certificate from their GP, we would ask them to notify the Department directly.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.