Means Tested GP Visit Card Expansion | Minister Donnelly

From today - 11th September, 2023 - hundreds of thousands more people are able to avail of Free GP Care. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD gives a brief outline. For more, see: www2.hse.ie/se...
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi there, I want to give you a quick update on a measure we're taking to make healthcare more affordable for people. From today, hundreds of thousands more people are able to avail of free GP care. It's the biggest expansion of free GP care in the history of the State. It will mean that, for the first time now, over half the population will not need to pay to see a GP. We've simplified the application for those applying for the GP card and all of the details are available on the HSE's website. I would urge anyone who hasn't qualified for a GP card up to now, because they earn over the threshold, to check the website to see if you now qualify. The extension of free GP care on these income grounds to such a large number of people - it's going to be four or five hundred thousand people - is a big, big administrative task for the HSE. And for that reason, we're doing it in two phases. So, the income threshold is going to increase again in November, meaning that more people may qualify. So, if you check the site now and you don't qualify, come back and you look at it in November, the income threshold will have gone up again and you might qualify then. We've made it clear in government, right from the start, that our commitment is to universal healthcare and this provision of hundreds of thousands of GP cards is another really important step on our way to universal health care. Thank you.