On Thursday, the Government approved, in the Council of Ministers, three measures for some pensioners, which are related to the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI). After all, what will change?

1. Free medication for 145,000 elderly people

The Council of Ministers approved the free prescription drugs for about 145,000 CSI beneficiaries, announced the Prime Minister.

"The first measure was to increase the level of co-payment for prescription drugs to 100%", said Luís Montenegro, in a press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting.

Currently, the co-payment was set at 50%.

"Many times, (CSI beneficiaries) end up not accessing the full extent of their treatments due to the very poor economic condition in which they live. With this effort, we will no longer allow this to happen", stressed the head of Government.

On Wednesday, the Government had already indicated that the joint measure of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security and the Ministry of Health will cost 10.4 million euros.

The free prescription drugs will come into effect on 1 June. From that date, clarified Luís Montenegro, the beneficiaries will be able to collect their medication at the pharmacy "without making any payment".

2. CSI reference value increases by 50 euros

The Prime Minister also announced that the Government will increase, from June, the reference value of the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI) by 50 euros.

In other words, from June, the reference value of this benefit will increase from 550 to 600 euros and only the income of pensioners and retirees who apply for it will be taken into account.

"We decided today, with immediate effect, to increase the current reference value of the CSI by about 50 euros to 600 euros", he announced, stressing that, since the beginning of the year, it had been set at 550.67 euros.

In other words, he added, from June, all pensioners and retirees who benefit from the CSI "will have a monthly increase of 50 euros", as well as all those who, with this new reference value, are eligible to apply for this benefit.

3. Children's income eliminated as an exclusion factor

The Prime Minister also announced that the Government, as it had already admitted, decided to "eliminate the condition of recourse according to which the income of the children of the candidates for beneficiaries could make the granting of this benefit unfeasible".

"From now on, the income that is considered for the purposes of the application is only and exclusively that of the people who apply for this benefit, thus no longer taking into account the income of their children", he said.

In the question phase, which was limited to only two, Montenegro explained that the scope of the increase in the benefit will cover all the current 145,000 CSI beneficiaries and also all those who, through the new rules approved today, "now meet the income requirement that they did not meet before".

"We will see how many will apply and meet all the conditions of recourse that the law determines, with the exception of the one that has now been eliminated", he said.

The Prime Minister said he could not make "an exact commitment" as to when the objective assumed in the electoral programme for the legislature of a CSI reference value of 820 euros could be reached.

"I can only commit to trying to do everything to anticipate this objective, as the country's economic and budgetary conditions allow", he said.

What is the CSI?

The CSI is a monthly cash payment to elderly people living in poverty. Citizens over 66 years of age with an annual income of less than or equal to 6,608 euros are eligible. In the case of a couple, this income must be less than or equal to 11,564 euros.

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