Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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268. To ask the Minister for Health when the threshold for over-70s medical card applications will increase from €500 to €550 for a single person and from €900 to €1,050 for a couple, as announced in budget 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27768/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Bill 2020, enacted on 2nd August 2020, provided for an increase to the gross medical card income limits for those aged 70 and over to €550 per week for a single person and to €1,050 per week for a couple.

Although it had been originally intended that this measure would be implemented from July this year, it was not possible to legislate for the necessary amendments to the 1970 Health Act to provide for this measure until there was a fully constituted Dáil and Seanad.

While the relevant section providing for the increased limits has not yet been commenced, decisions on the associated funding requirements and potential implementation date are being actively considered.