Health act 2008

• Enactment Date: 12 December 2008
• Act Number: 21

Number 21 of 2008
HEALTH ACT 2008
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title, collective citation and commencement.
PART 2
Amendment to Health Act 1970
2. Interpretation.
3. Amendment of section 45 of Act of 1970.
4. Insertion of section 45A in Act of 1970.
5. Amendment of section 47 of Act of 1970.
6. Amendment of section 47A of Act of 1970.
7. Amendment of section 49 of Act of 1970.
PART 3
Amendment to Health Contributions Act 1979
8. Amendment of section 4 of Health Contributions Act 1979.
PART 4
Amendment to Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005
9. Amendment of section 7 of Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
10. Amendment of section 265 of Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.
PART 5
Amendment to Civil Registration Act 2004
11. Amendment of section 66 of Civil Registration Act 2004.
Acts Referred to
Civil Registration Act 2004 2004, No. 3 Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 2001, No. 14 Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006 2006, No. 17 Health Act 1970 1970, No. 1 Health Acts 1947 to 2007 Health Contributions Act 1979 1979, No. 4 Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Acts 1997 to 2006 Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 2002, No. 13 Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 2005, No. 26
Number 21 of 2008
HEALTH ACT 2008
AN ACT TO AMEND THE HEALTH ACT 1970, THE HEALTH CONTRIBUTIONS ACT 1979, THE SOCIAL WELFARE CONSOLIDATION ACT 2005 AND THE CIVIL REGISTRATION ACT 2004, TO MAKE PROVISION IN RELATION TO ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES UNDER THE HEALTH ACT 1970 AND FOR LIABILITY FOR HEALTH CONTRIBUTIONS AND TO PROVIDE FOR MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
[12th December, 2008]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
	Short title, collective citation and commencement.	1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Health Act 2008 and the Health Acts 1947 to 2007 and this Act may be cited together as the Health Acts 1947 to 2008 and shall be construed together as one.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January 2009.
PART 2 Amendment to Health Act 1970
	Interpretation.	2.— In this Part, “Act of 1970” means the Health Act 1970 .
	Amendment of section 45 of Act of 1970.	3.— (1) Subsection (5A) of section 45 (inserted by section 1 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 ) of the Act of 1970 is replaced by the following—
	“(5A) Notwithstanding any other enactment, with effect from 2 March 2009 a person also shall have full eligibility for the services under this Part if the person attained the age of 70 years before 1 January 2009 and is ordinarily resident in the State, so long as the person’s gross income does not exceed the relevant gross income limit under section 45A.”.
	(2) A person who had full eligibility for the services under Part IV of the Act of 1970 by virtue of section 45(5A) of that Act prior to the coming into operation of subsection (1) continues to have full eligibility until 2 March 2009.
	Insertion of section 45A in Act of 1970.	4.— The Act of 1970 is amended by inserting the following after section 45:
	“Full eligibility.
	45A.— (1) Notwithstanding section 45(6), a person in one of the following categories and who is ordinarily resident in the State also shall have full eligibility for the services under this Part:
	(a) persons who, on or after 1 January 2009, attain or have attained the age of 70 years, whose gross income does not exceed the relevant income limit and who—
	(i) make an application to the Health Service Executive in such form as it may consider appropriate, and
	(ii) receive confirmation from the Health Service Executive that they have full eligibility for services under this Part because they have attained the age of 70 years, are ordinarily resident in the State and their gross income does not exceed the relevant gross income limit, so long as their gross income does not exceed that relevant limit;
	(b) persons who were married to another person until that other person’s death, or lived with that other person as husband and wife until the other person’s death—
	(i) if the surviving persons have attained the age of 70 years at the time of the death,
	(ii) if the death occurred on or after 1 January 2009, and
	(iii) for a period of 3 years after the death, so long as their gross income does not exceed the gross income limit set out in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) during that period;
	and
	(c) dependants of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) or section 45(5A).
	(2) The Health Service Executive shall provide any necessary supports to any person in the making of an application under subsection (1) where, by reason of any incapacity, such person requests such assistance.
	(3) The gross income limits for the purposes of this section and section 45(5A) are the following:
	(a) if a person is not married and is not living together with another person as husband and wife, his or her gross income limit is €700 per week, not including the income from the portion of the person’s savings or similar investments whose capital value does not exceed €36,000, and
	(b) if persons are married or live together as husband and wife, their combined gross income limit is €1,400 per week, not including the income from the portion of their savings or similar investments whose capital value does not exceed €72,000.
	(4) The Minister shall, on 1 September of every year, review the most recent information on the consumer price index made available by the Central Statistics Office, and may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, by regulations to take effect on 1...