Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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955. To ask the Minister for Health if a circular has issued from her Department or from the HSE in the past 12 months regarding discretionary medical cards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8025/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Under the Health Act 1970, eligibility for a medical card is based primarily on means. The Act obliges the HSE to assess whether a person is unable, without undue hardship, to arrange general practitioner services for himself or herself and his or her family, having regard to his or her overall financial position and reasonable expenditure. However, every effort is made by the HSE, within the framework of the legislation, to support applicants in applying for a medical card and, in particular, to take full account of the difficult circumstances in the case of applicants who may be in excess of the income guidelines. The HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card, even though an applicant exceeds the income threshold where they face difficult financial circumstances, such as extra costs arising from an illness. Social and medical issues are also considered when determining whether undue hardship exists for an individual accessing general practitioner or other medical services.

In response to the query raised by the Deputy, my Department has not issued a specific circular regarding discretionary medical cards in the last 12 months.

I can assure the Deputy that my Department keeps medical card issues under review in order to ensure the medical card system is responsive and sensitive to people's needs. Over the course of 2025, we will review the existing eligibility framework to clearly assess what is working well and to inform policy proposals to enhance eligibility and access to services based on robust evidence. This is an important step towards delivering on universal healthcare in Ireland.

As part of the question is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.