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

Appendix VIII Cohabitation
Assessment of means for Medical Cards/GP Visit Cards of an unmarried /cohabiting couple are
treated in the same way as a married couple.
The issue of unmarried/cohabiting couple residing together and being treated as married couple for
the medical card assessment will have in most cases already have been addressed by the DSFA.
If there is a voluntary admission of living together and this had adversely affected their DSFA
entitlement, this would be accepted as sufficient evidence that they are living together.
However in certain circumstances the Decision maker may have to satisfy themselves that a couple
are cohabiting..
The following points should be are generally considered when examining a particular case.
A. What type of accommodation and how it is shared?
B. Do either own or maintain other residence.
C. Is their joint financial commitment to outgoings e.g. Rent, Mortgage, other household bills.
Did they present themselves as a couple when making arrangements ?.
D. On what circumstances and how long are they residing together ?.
E. Are they raising family together?
It is not sufficient to establish that a couple are in the one residence but it would have to be
established that they constitute a single household.
A single criterion can necessarily support decision that a couple are living together but a decision
can only be arrived by considering all of the above questions.
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