Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1357. To ask the Minister for Health the manner in which eligibility for a full medical card is reckoned for an applicant, who is an adult dependent on their spouse’s pension, when their spouse avails of medical care under the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3532/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Eligibility for a Medical Card is primarily based on a financial assessment which is conducted by the HSE in accordance with the Health Act 1970 (as amended). The HSE assesses each medical card application on a qualifying financial threshold. This is the amount of money that an individual can earn a week and still qualify for a card. It is specific to the individual’s own financial circumstances.

Persons aged 69 and under are assessed under the general means tested medical card thresholds which are based on an applicant’s household income after tax and the deduction of PRSI and the Universal Social Charge. Certain expenses are also taken into account. Examples of allowable expenses include rent, mortgage, certain insurance costs, childcare, maintenance, nursing home net costs which help to increase the amount a person can earn and still qualify for a medical card. Detailed guidelines are available at:

Persons aged 70 or older are assessed under medical card income thresholds which are based on gross income. The weekly gross medical card income thresholds for people aged 70 and over are currently €550 per week for a single person and €1050 for a couple. However, it should be noted that those aged over 70 can also be assessed under the general means tested scheme where there are particularly high costs, e.g., medication, nursing home fees. Furthermore, the Deputy may be aware that, since 2015, every individual aged 70 and over has automatic eligibility for a GP visit card.

The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme provides financial payments and health supports, in the form of an “enhanced medical card”, to eligible applicants in recognition of the circumstances they experienced while resident in a Mother and Baby or County Home institution. The enhanced medical card is provided on a lifelong basis and is not subject to ongoing means testing. The financial payments made to eligible applicants under the Payment Scheme are disregarded from the medical card assessment process, thereby ensuring that dependants of those eligible for the enhanced medical card can continue to avail of standard assessment when making an application for a medical card based on combined income.