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Prescription charges for persons who have attained age of 70 years and their dependants
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4. The Act of 1970 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 59:
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“59A. (1) This section applies to persons with full eligibility who avail of the service under subsection (1) of section 59 and who fall within any of the following classes:
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(a) persons who have attained the age of 70 years;
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(b) dependants of the persons referred to in paragraph (a).
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(2) Subject to subsection (3), the amount of charge under subsection (1A) of section 59 per item supplied to a person to whom this section applies shall be €2.00 or such other amount as may be determined by regulations made by the Minister under this section.
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(3) Subject to subsection (1B)(b) of section 59, the maximum aggregate amount payable in respect of items referred to in subsection (1A) of that section supplied in a month to a person who has attained the age of 70 years and his or her dependants shall be €20.00 or such other amount as may be determined by regulations made by the Minister under this section.
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(4) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, make regulations varying either or both of the amounts referred to in subsections (2) and (3), where he or she is of the opinion that such a variation is desirable, having regard to such of the following as he or she considers appropriate:
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(a) information on the consumer price index made available by the Central Statistics Office from time to time;
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(b) recent information on the aggregate of the amounts expended, and the number of items in respect of which those amounts were expended, by the Health Service Executive in providing the service under subsection (1) of section 59 either generally or to persons to whom this section applies;
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(c) the medical needs of, and the financial burden on, persons to whom this section applies;
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(d) the necessity of controlling expenditure in relation to the provision by the State of health services;
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(e) either or both of the amounts for the time being referred to in subsections (1A) and (1B)(a) of section 59.”.
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