Ineligible medical card holders face penalty

PENSIONERS could be penalised for failing to return their medical card after new figures shows almost half of those due to return the card under controversial new rules have not done so.

Figures from the HSE show that 12,101 medical cards held by people over the age of 70 have been returned – well short of the estimated 20,000 older people who became ineligible for a medical card under measures introduced last year by the Government.

The universal right to a medical card ended last year with new income thresholds set in place for those aged 70 and above.

Under the new rules, only those with a gross income of €700 or less for a single person or €1,400 a week or less for a couple are entitled to the card.

Those who became ineligible were supposed to return their cards by March of last year, but almost half have not done so.

However, some duplicate cards and those issued to people who have died have been removed from the system, with the HSE claiming 21,260 cards were removed from the medical card register last year in a data quality exercise.

However, the issue of the unreturned cards remains and those ineligible for the card but still retaining one could face paying the full cost of any medical procedure they undergo.

Some 350,000 reminder letters asking for a declaration of income prior to March 2009 have been sent to anyone aged over 70 who received a medical card on the basis of age only or without a means test by the HSE in a drive to have the remaining outstanding cards returned.

The director of the Older and Bolder Campaign, Patricia Conboy, said in many cases people were afraid to return the medical card because they viewed it as a safety net in case of emergency.

“It is my guess that it is rooted in fear,” she said. “We would know from our own consultation meetings around the country and from research in the run-up to the budget that many people would say they are managing and coping but that their big concern would be if something big and catastrophic happened to them or their family, would they be able to meet those costs?

“It is a form of security,” Ms Conboy said.

Age Action has suggested that some people may be retaining their medical card as a form of protest, and Ms Conboy said the loss of the universal right to a card was to be regretted, along with measures such as the implementation of new charges on prescription drugs.