Medical card - Afraid to ask for one?

Both my brother and his wife are on Disability Benefit. They have no mortgage or outgoings and their children are grown up and left the home. Their only income is their weekly disability benefit plus interest from their savings of about €170k.
They do not have a medical card as they believe because they have €170k in savings that they are not entitled to one.
From my understanding of reading up on the subject that this might not be the case. Their combined income from their disability I believe is circa €374 per week plus interest per week after DIRT of about €40 giving them a total weekly income of circa €414 or €207 each.

There is a chart of various sites that says that the first €72k is not counted when doing calculations. If that is the case then €98k of their savings will only be assessed. The new figures then show something like this €374 disability + €26 interest = €400 income per week between two of them.

Does anyone know if an income of €200 a week for a person would entitle each of them to a medical card.

This couple have been on disability for over 6 years, they have medicine costs of about €100 per month between them. As I said they have never looked for a medical card because they have always believed that they were not entitled to one.

Because of rising living costs they find that they are beginning to dip in to their savings whearas before they were managing on their disability payments plus interest.

They can apply online. If they are not entitled, then no harm done. If they are entitled, just print out the form, attach the required documentation and submit it and they should then receive their cards.

www.medicalcard.ie or phone 1890 252 919

Given that their sole income is from welfare, they should be entitled, however I'm not entirely sure how the interest is taken into account. They could also ask their GP for a letter outlining their medical conditions, frequency of visits to GP and hospitals, list of meds. etc. They might be entitled to cards on medical grounds.

One is 60 and the other is 59.

Does this help:-

How capital is assessed for the under 70s
All capital (savings and investments) is taken into account for medical card purposes. However, income on the savings/investments or property of €36,000 for a single person and €72,000 for a couple is disregarded.
The disregard figure only applies once where both savings and property (other than your own home) are being assessed.
The balance is taken into account either by taking into account the actual rate of interest received, if you provide a certificate of the interest paid on in the last full calendar year or by using a notional rate. The HSE will use whichever calculation is better for the applicant.
In essence, only the interest or income earned on savings and similar investments will be counted as income, not the total value of the savings or investments themselves.

There is another interesting point I read somewhere but I can't remember where. It said that ex gratia payments are not included nor are "damages" payments. My brother's savings are made up of about €120k in redundancy payments and a sum that he received in "damages" from his old employer. Is this possible or am I imagining this?

He doesn't appear to come under the following categories:-

Income not taken into account when assessing income for medical card purposes

Certain compensation awards:

• Compensation payments made by the Residential Institutions Redress Board
• Repayments made under the Health (Repayment) Scheme (that is, the Nursing Home repayment scheme)
• Awards made to people who contracted Hepatitis C or HIV from contaminated blood products (together with income from the investment of that money)
• Ex- gratia payments approved by the Lourdes Hospital Redress Board under the terms of the Lourdes Hospital Redress Scheme 2007.

Certain payments made by the State:

• HSE payments:Foster Care Allowance, Mobility Allowance, Blind Welfare Allowance, weekly supplements paid under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme
• Social welfare payments: Family Income Supplement, Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Domiciliary Care Allowance guardian's payments (for example, orphan's pension) and the Free Fuel, Island, Living Alone and Over 80 Allowances.
• Other payments: Third level educational maintenance grants, Rehabilitation Maintenance Allowance, earnings from employment of a rehabilitative nature (up to €120.00 per week).

Thanks. Incidentally they are both on Illness benefit. This is the standard amount that they get based on 30 years of "stamps". My brother noticed when he received his monthly statement of benefits paid that there is a section on the form that allows for deductions. He is now worried that the standard benefit paid can be reduced. My question is can that happen. And can it happen because of savings. I thought that it was a fixed amount?

Medical Card

Hi
I have recently moved to Ireland from the UK and was thinking about applying for a medical card as I am currently on a low income ( if any ) as I'm trying a start my own business from home and not really earning as yet. I have about €3.5k in savings and own the small cottage I live in and how no other incomes or investments etc. I understand I'm not entitled to any welfare assistance as I need to prove habitual residency first which can take 2 years. But obtaining a medical card on the grounds of a low income would really help me.
Thanks if you can help