Medical Card/G.P. Visit Card National Assessment Guidelines

Where applicants incomes are in excess of the Income Guidelines, all social and medical
issues will be taken into account in determining whether or not ‘undue hardship’ exists or
whether it would be “unduly burdensome” for the applicants to provide general
practitioner medical and surgical services for themselves and their dependants (These
terms are explained in Section 3.10.)
3.1.1 Dependents
Definition of a “spouse”
a) each person of a married couple who are living together or
b) a man and a woman who not married to each other but who are co habiting as man
and wife (guidelines to assist staff on establishing co-habitation are set out in
Appendix 8)
Definition of a“child.”.
The word "child" means a person who is less than sixteen years of age
3.2 Additional Allowances
The Income Guidelines include basic weekly allowances having regard to the applicant’s
age, status and number of dependants. Additional allowances are available for necessary
expenses incurred in respect of the following:
- Rent/Mortgage payments.
- Childcare costs.
- Travel to work costs.
3.2.1 Rent / Mortgage Repayments
Rent Costs
Outgoings in respect of rent costs are allowable provided that the rent paid is consistent
with the market rent appropriate to the area and generally the accommodation is
appropriate to the needs of applicant/ families.
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