Reduce income to qualify for over 70s card

G-Man

My uncle is slightly over the threshold (500 pw for single) for the over 70s . He has some pension 420 pw (incl state) and some rental from old poor state house. If he were to dispose of the source of this income - the house and bring him under threshold would he qualify for full medical card, he already has doctor only card.

We feel his health is declining and want to get this in order before it gets worse.Would it still be ok to do this when his health is worse, i.e. would a preexisting condition disallow it.

Turnipman

G-Man wrote: »

My uncle is slightly over the threshold (500 pw for single) for the over 70s . He has some pension 420 pw (incl state) and some rental from old poor state house. If he were to dispose of the source of this income - the house and bring him under threshold would he qualify for full medical card, he already has doctor only card.

We feel his health is declining and want to get this in order before it gets worse.Would it still be ok to do this when his health is worse, i.e. would a preexisting condition disallow it.

If he disposes of the house then the HSE will want to know what happened to the proceeds of the sale. If the proceeds are put on deposit, then they will calculate estimated interest on his deposit.

If he keeps it, but gets rid of the tenants, the HSE may pick up the rent on his bank statements or his tax return and ask him what happened to the rental income.

Then, regardless of whether he's actually getting any rent from the property, they would probably calculate a notional rent on the property and add that to his income.

His best chance is to send them proof that his bill for medication/treatment is very high and likely to increase due to his poor health.

Also, if and when his condition deteriorates he can keep reapplying.

G-Man

Sounds like its not straightforward to guarantee we will get medical card straight away - but that clause on poor health is very important - THANKS FOR THAT

Kristopherus

https://www.hse.ie/eng/cards-schemes/medical-card/medical-card-for-over-70s/

Its a damn disgrace how much the income limit for over 70s has been pruned:mad:.


And those limits are gross income. No allowance for any expenses, except medical. For a younger applicant, it is nett income that is assessed. And after that, the expenses, such as medical, mortgage, travel to work, etc., are deducted to arrive at the true assessable income.

Clareman

Would private medical insurance be a better option for him rather than dropping his income and waiting for the tests to be carried out by the HSE? If he's getting €150 per week rent that's an income of €570 which would need to be dropped by €70 which equates to €3,640 per annum which I'm sure would get a decent medical cover.

TheBoyConor

Why not get private healthcare insurance from the proceeds of the sale? Like, medical card is HSE and we all know HSE health system is third world standard. Works your not want better for your uncle?

Squatter

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Why not get private healthcare insurance from the proceeds of the sale? Like, medical card is HSE and we all know HSE health system is third world standard. Works your not want better for your uncle?

Problem with joining a PHI scheme is that there's a 5 year waiting period before pre-existing conditions are covered.

splinter65

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Why not get private healthcare insurance from the proceeds of the sale? Like, medical card is HSE and we all know HSE health system is third world standard. Works your not want better for your uncle?

This mans only expenses as regards his GP visits are a maximum of €134 per month for his prescriptions, 20% of which can be clawed back through revenue.
His maximum layout for hospital treatment in any rolling 12 month period is €800.
It doesn’t appear to me that he is eking out an existence on the breadline.
Also this “3rd world” comparison about the health system is so insulting to those who have experienced of actual 3rd world conditions that imo it should be a banned expression on boards.

Clareman

Personally this sums up a lot of the problems in Ireland, there's those without much who get what they need/deserve from the government and you have those with a lot of who get what they need/deserve by spending their money. Then you have the people stuck in the middle who are almost forgotten about.

Your uncle has a decent income of over €2k a month but that could be wiped out by a fall, the best solution for him would be able to pay for it but that's not feasible, I thought there wasnt a waiting period for OAPs, if there is it's not feasible for him to wait so he has to get a medical card which means "playing the system" to get bow the threshold and hiding any gains