medical card review form

Hi
I have a query re medical card form which my elderly neighbours are filling in.

He has a medical card but got an eligibility review form recently. They both are over 70 and their combined in come is over the 900 euro /week limit,
So it looks like its the GP card is what they will be entitled to hopefully.

My questions is: When filling in the form what years income do you declare (is it last years) –the reason I ask that is because they took 17,000 euro from an ARF last year (once off) and it takes them slightly above the limit for GP card (1400 euro/week)?

Or should they put this year’s income down and they will comfortably qualify for the GP card?

Many Thanks

I think the €17000 will be regarded as a once off if you sent document information. It will be added to their savings which must not exceed I think €72,000 for a couple.

There are times when they will take into account the net income if there are additional expenses that can be shown, to warrant special consideration.

Like medication, pain killers etc. not allowed on the refund scheme and means paying out more than the monthly amount. Perhaps physiotherapy needed or incontinent pads, diabetic foods, other items which you might consider applicable. It is worth listing.

I think the medical card system is again being administered by the HSE and not a special, rubber stamp, agency as before, they would have more discretion.
Good luck Browtal

I thought the form basically asked for a weekly/monthly income (I could be wrong!) if it does then I would just put the present income from pensions and then there is another section for savings etc or you submit interest certs for the interest actually earned.

The means test for over 70's is very generous really and you would want a fair old bit of money to put yourself outside the GP card limit when in all fairness at that stage you could afford the prescription charge after the drug payment scheme.