Almost €200,000 spent on range of medical treatments for self-employed Carlow people
New figures
Almost €200,000 was spent through the Treatment Benefit Scheme for self-employed people in Carlow, new figures have revealed.
The TBS is run by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and provides dental, optical and aural services to qualified people.
It is available to insured workers, the self-employed and retired people who have the required number of PRSI contributions.
Fine Gael's Hildegarde Naughton asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection for the number of self-employed persons who have availed of the extension of the scheme to the self-employed by county.
Minister Regina Doherty said: "Eligibility to the treatment benefit scheme was extended to the self-employed from March 2017.
"Class S contributors and their dependent spouses can now avail of the full range of dental, optical and medical appliance benefits available under the scheme.
"In 2018 the total number of claims received from self-employed contributors was 212,000 at a cost of some €17.2m."
Details of claims and expenditure by county address of customer for 2018 showed that there were 2,475 such claims in Carlow last year and they cost €196,491.