SOME MEDICAL card holders will have to pay the new universal social tax introduced in the Budget.
While all medical card holders were previously exempt from having to pay the income and health levies, those medical card patients who are not on social welfare but who qualify for cards by virtue of having a low disposable income will have to pay the new universal social charge which replaces the levies, the Department of Finance has confirmed.
It also said medical card holders over the age of 70 would not pay any universal social charge on their social welfare pension of €23,703 but would on their other income if, for example, they had an occupational pension.
“There is no exemption for medical card holders from the universal social charge. However, all social welfare payments are exempt from the universal social charge. The situation is that most medical card holders have social welfare payments. Those payments will not be subject to the universal social charge. If they have other income that will be subject to the universal social charge,” the department said.
Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said applying the charge to medical card holders would bring increased hardship to those who are already struggling to make ends meet. It would “send many families over the edge”.