ALMOST HALF of the people aged over 70 who are no longer automatically eligible for a medical card have failed to hand them back to health authorities, new figures show.
Health authorities have warned that anyone who holds on to a medical card but is not entitled to it, or who knowingly makes a false income statement, may be hit with the full cost of any health services they receive.
Under controversial eligibility rules which came into effect last year, older people whose income was above a certain threshold were required to return their medical cards to the Health Service Executive (HSE) by March 2009.
The Government has estimated that some 20,000 older people over the age of 70 would be affected by the changes in eligibility. However, a spokeswoman for the HSE said new figures showed that a total of 12,101 medical cards were returned by people above the income threshold in 2009.
The spokeswoman said that in addition to the returned medical cards, some 21,260 cards were removed from the medical card register in 2009 as part of its “data quality exercise”. This involves removing duplicate medical cards or those issued to people who have since passed away.
Under the new eligibility rules for over-70s medical cards, the automatic entitlement applies only to those with a gross income of €700 a week or less for a single person, or €1,400 a week or less for a couple.
The HSE sent out 350,000 letters in recent months asking anyone over 70 who received their medical card on the basis of age only, or without a means test, to make a declaration of their income before March 2nd, 2009.
When the rules were introduced by Minister for Health Mary Harney last year, she emphasised her belief in the “honesty and integrity” of the vast majority of older people.
Support groups such as Age Action Ireland say many over-70s have deliberately refused to surrender their card due to fears they will not be able to afford medication or GP services. Others, they say, are confused by the new thresholds.
It has advised older people with incomes outside the threshold that they are in breach of the law. It says they should apply immediately for a medical card or GP-only card. A person over the income limit may still apply for a medical card under the general medical card scheme if their health circumstances cause them “undue financial hardship”.
As for those who have made income declarations which state that their income is below the new threshold, the HSE has said that it can check this by sharing data with other State agencies.
Age Action says it received calls from concerned older people when the new law was introduced who say they were prepared to break the law to hold on to their medical card.
“The medical card is a gateway card to access a range of services such as public health nursing, which you can’t buy in the private sector,” said Age Action’s head of advocacy and communications, Eamon Timmins.