Medical Card assessment- travel to work costs

hawthorne

My wife wants to take up a small part time job.
We do not have a car and there is no public transport around here. So she has to use a taxi to get to work and to come home again.It would be 10 euros per journey.
Would the taxi fare count as an expense? I only found the use of one's own car or public transport in the assessment guidelines.

dartboardio

hawthorne wrote: »

My wife wants to take up a small part time job.
We do not have a car and there is no public transport around here. So she has to use a taxi to get to work and to come home again.It would be 10 euros per journey.
Would the taxi fare count as an expense? I only found the use of one's own car or public transport in the assessment guidelines.

Yes, however only if she can try get a receipt for a weeks worth of taxis. For example ask for a receipt each journey for a week, to and from work. Then send them in with the application and they will allow you to do this, similar to public transport etc.

The receipt should show the amount paid and the date within the last three months

hawthorne

dartboardio wrote: »

Yes, however only if she can try get a receipt for a weeks worth of taxis. For example ask for a receipt each journey for a week, to and from work. Then send them in with the application and they will allow you to do this, similar to public transport etc.

The receipt should show the amount paid and the date within the last three months

It would be only one day per week. This means two journeys.
She has not started yet. We are looking at the situation because so far our only income is a social welfare payment for me and the QA for her. We are only getting the MC on that basis.
The threshold for the MC is very low for us- we have no mortgage, no rent, no childcare costs,etc. to use to help to qualify.
Even a few euros earned would mean the end of our MC. So we need expenses to bring up the threshold.
If we don't find enough the whole job idea will be dropped again. Makes no sense to have a few euros more- but loose the MC instead.

171170

If you go back to work then you can retain the MC for 3 years if you've been on JA or JB for more than 12 months.

Not sure of the situation if your QA goes back to work.

May be worth calling the HSE's Medical Card Section and asking them:-

1890 252 919 (LoCall) or 01 8647100.

hawthorne

171170 wrote: »

If you go back to work then you can retain the MC for 3 years if you've been on JA or JB for more than 12 months.

Not sure of the situation if your QA goes back to work.

May be worth calling the HSE's Medical Card Section and asking them:-

1890 252 919 (LoCall) or 01 8647100.

Asked already. We cannot expect to retain the MC. This is very worrying because the card covers herself,my son and myself.
As soon as the wife starts a job, the HSE will do a review. First paid tax will make revenue to send a message to the HSE to start the re- assessment process.
I tried to get more out of the MC section, but they are not very helpful. The bottom line is that they only make a decision when they have all the figures on the table.
But we must know before my wife starts the job.

dartboardio

hawthorne wrote: »

Asked already. We cannot expect to retain the MC. This is very worrying because the card covers herself,my son and myself.
As soon as the wife starts a job, the HSE will do a review. First paid tax will make revenue to send a message to the HSE to start the re- assessment process.
I tried to get more out of the MC section, but they are not very helpful. The bottom line is that they only make a decision when they have all the figures on the table.
But we must know before my wife starts the job.

You can't know for certain unfortunately. As it is assessed on a case by case basis that's why no one can give you a set figure.

If you or your wife have been on a non stop SW qualifying payment for 12 months then begin work, you can apply and will get a medical card for three years under the retention scheme but you must state this on the form. They are very strict with it and it must be a 12 month unbroken period.

Revenue don't tell the HSE anything, you could easily pick up a job and not bother to send in a change in circumstances application which would be the bad thing to do, but no one is gonna pull you up on it. It may trigger a review in a few months but nothing automatic.

HSE do random reviews but you can find out when your next' review' date is by ringing them and they can see when your scheduled for a review. But of course you are obliged to re apply whenever you have a change in circumstances.

No one can tell you for certain as the MC section are only an advice line, and it's a seperate processing department (who don't take calls) who do all the deciding and background checks.

The MC help line actually work off a read only system. This means they can't guarantee you will get another medical card at any point or they may be in trouble as its dealt with by a different department.

hawthorne

I did not know about the retention sheme. I was in a "Citizen Information Office" the other day and looked for infos about our situation.
This thing came never up. I was told that we would loose our card at once when we go over the income limit.
I recently had come across a HSE guideline PDF in which I had found the note that if a QA starts working the family can keep the MC until it expires.
https://www2.hse.ie/file-library/medical-cards/medical-cards-national-assessment-guidelines.pdf
See page 38.
Would you have a link to the "retention sheme"? It sounds perfect for us. Wife is a QA for many years without any interruption.
I only found this:
https://www2.hse.ie/services/medical-cards/keeping-a-medical-card-after-unemployment.html
But it does not say anything about a QA. My wife was never unemployed. She stopped working and became a housewife. She never claimed anything. I just claim for her.
The problem I am having now with this is that it looks like as if my wife has to apply for the card. What about my son and myself? Something here does not fit. I won't go back to work- most likely never. I think that retention sheme is only for those people who have been on UB/UA/IB/DA and want to go back to work. But it does not apply to a QA in his/her own right. It would be ok for me- but not the wife.
I was also told that Revenue,SW and HSE are all linked with each other now. If someone takes up work and starts getting an income, Revenue will automatically inform SW and HSE. She said it was set up some time ago to combat fraud. We have a review every 12 months. They never ask us for infos- we just get a new card and a letter that our card was reviewed and that we still qualify. The new cards arriving in the post always carry a new date of expiry. So they must have no trouble looking into our data at Revenue and SW. We always know the date for the next review that way.

dartboardio

hawthorne wrote: »

I did not know about the retention sheme. I was in a "Citizen Information Office" the other day and looked for infos about our situation.
This thing came never up. I was told that we would loose our card at once when we go over the income limit.
I recently had come across a HSE guideline PDF in which I had found the note that if a QA starts working the family can keep the MC until it expires.
https://www2.hse.ie/file-library/medical-cards/medical-cards-national-assessment-guidelines.pdf
See page 38.
Would you have a link to the "retention sheme"? It sounds perfect for us. Wife is a QA for many years without any interruption.
I only found this:
https://www2.hse.ie/services/medical-cards/keeping-a-medical-card-after-unemployment.html
But it does not say anything about a QA. My wife was never unemployed. She stopped working and became a housewife. She never claimed anything. I just claim for her.
The problem I am having now with this is that it looks like as if my wife has to apply for the card. What about my son and myself? Something here does not fit. I won't go back to work- most likely never. I think that retention sheme is only for those people who have been on UB/UA/IB/DA and want to go back to work. But it does not apply to a QA in his/her own right. It would be ok for me- but not the wife.
I was also told that Revenue,SW and HSE are all linked with each other now. If someone takes up work and starts getting an income, Revenue will automatically inform SW and HSE. She said it was set up some time ago to combat fraud. We have a review every 12 months. They never ask us for infos- we just get a new card and a letter that our card was reviewed and that we still qualify. The new cards arriving in the post always carry a new date of expiry. So they must have no trouble looking into our data at Revenue and SW. We always know the date for the next review that way.

I don't know what QA is.

There are about 8 or 9 payments that you can be on that qualifies for retention scheme, and even if you have an active medical card at the moment, to apply for your wife and son you must complete a full family application with all your income details, and all of hers, along with outgoings.

I don't know who told you that, Revenue and SW are obviously linked up due to reasons as you stated - fraud, etc because those things go hand in hand, claiming money, working for money.. but not HSE, the only way you can lose your card is if you miss/ignore a review or are unsuccessful for your next application, it's not like they go, oh you're working now, we are withdrawing your card. Not like that at all..

I'm sure they can access it somewhat but basically what I'm saying is, if you get a job in the morning, HSE will not be aware. It's your responsibility to re apply to review your eligibility, You will not be in trouble for not doing so, unlike SW.

Plenty of families out there on high income, with high outgoings, that have medical cards.

https://www2.hse.ie/services/medical-cards/keeping-a-medical-card-after-unemployment.html

thats the only info I can find for it online , but basically as long as you are certain you were on a qualifying SW payment for 12 months completely unbroken, you will get a card for 3 yrs

Just to let you know it will only be the person that qualifies under retention that keeps the card for 3 yrs, not the family, they will have their given expiry dates as normal

hawthorne

"QA" stands for "qualified adult". That is my wife.
I contacted the HSE. I was told that the retention sheme you mentioned would only work for myself, if I want to go back to work.
My wife does NOT qualify because she is not on a payment of her own- she is just a QA.
I posted a link above with the MC guidelines- and as I pointed out as well- you find this information on page 38.
My wife cannot put in a medical card application on her own. Since we are married and live together we can only be assessed together.
We have a family MC- and that cannot be broken up. The MC system does not allow that.
The link you posted above is again only useful for me- not my wife.Again- if she would be on a payment of her own, there would be a possibility.But she is not- she is just a QA.
So your idea with the retention sheme is unfortunately a non-starter.
Our total income is just my IB and the QA part. That alone brings us already over the threshold of 266.50 euros per week. Since this SW payment is our only income we automatically qualify for the MC.
In the moment my wife starts working, the rules for us change. The SW is not our only income anymore- and we are already now well above the threshold- 337.70 euros. There is nothing besides the travelling costs, a fire insurance and the costs for medication we can use to increase the threshold.
My wife's idea was to work a few hours- not even a day- to qualify for one PRSI credit per week which can be used for her pension later. Minimum income for a PRSI credit is 38 euros. But that is already much too much.We would be on 375.70 euros. No way we could afford private health care on that sum. The MC is a must for us.
Looks like another poverty trap to me.

dartboardio

hawthorne wrote: »

"QA" stands for "qualified adult". That is my wife.
I contacted the HSE. I was told that the retention sheme you mentioned would only work for myself, if I want to go back to work.
My wife does NOT qualify because she is not on a payment of her own- she is just a QA.
I posted a link above with the MC guidelines- and as I pointed out as well- you find this information on page 38.
My wife cannot put in a medical card application on her own. Since we are married and live together we can only be assessed together.
We have a family MC- and that cannot be broken up. The MC system does not allow that.
The link you posted above is again only useful for me- not my wife.Again- if she would be on a payment of her own, there would be a possibility.But she is not- she is just a QA.
So your idea with the retention sheme is unfortunately a non-starter.
Our total income is just my IB and the QA part. That alone brings us already over the threshold of 266.50 euros per week. Since this SW payment is our only income we automatically qualify for the MC.
In the moment my wife starts working, the rules for us change. The SW is not our only income anymore- and we are already now well above the threshold- 337.70 euros. There is nothing besides the travelling costs, a fire insurance and the costs for medication we can use to increase the threshold.
My wife's idea was to work a few hours- not even a day- to qualify for one PRSI credit per week which can be used for her pension later. Minimum income for a PRSI credit is 38 euros. But that is already much too much.We would be on 375.70 euros. No way we could afford private health care on that sum. The MC is a must for us.
Looks like another poverty trap to me.

If you're on IB then send in a full application with a medical report. You may be given the card on medical grounds, also if your wife is on any medication or frequently visits a GP make sure to put in a report if applicable for her also.

If your medical card is a must that indicates you may need it for ongoing medication or treatment, and your wife also. You may be given a card on a discretionary basis. You must fill out a normal application form and provide a medical report from your GP for both of you.