Up to the age of 65, people on invalidity pensions are eligible for medical cards and free GP visit cards regardless of spousal income. At the age of 66, however, they are transferred to the State pension and they lose eligibility. This has presented a cliff edge for a number of my constituents, including Margaret Ede, who has been contacting me regularly. Margaret and others like her are reliant on the medical card due to the cost of medicines and GP visits. She will have to wait four years to be eligible again through the over-70s medical card scheme. This is a financial barrier to older citizens accessing the care they require, when and where they need it. Can the threshold be looked at for those who were previously on invalidity pensions when they are transferred to the State pension? They were on invalidity pensions for a reason.

I thank the Deputy. In the last budget or perhaps the one before, we increased the income limits for access to the full medical card, although that was probably for the over-70s, not those between 66 and 69, and I imagine the Deputy’s constituent is in that bracket. I can see how it could be a difficulty that somebody moving from invalidity pension or carer’s payments would then lose eligibility for a three-year period, even though their income is exactly what it was before. I can see there is an issue there. There is definitely an anomaly. I will commit to examining the matter in conjunction with the Ministers for Health and Social Protection, Deputies Stephen Donnelly and Humphreys, to see if we can do something about it in October.