James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The Government promised to provide 200,000 full, not doctor-only, medical cards in 2002. In the event, however, 125,000 doctor-only cards were provided. People who received these are still obliged to pay for medicines and hospital charges and do not have access to public health nurses. In addition, 175,000 full medical cards were provided. Medical card coverage of the population is, as a percentage, at its lowest level since the inception of the scheme. The proportion of the population to be covered was supposed to be 40% but this has dropped as low as 27% nationally. In the greater Dublin area, the figure is 20%.

Many people do not realise how scandalously low is the income threshold for medical cards. If a single person has the temerity, audacity or misfortune to earn more than €184 per week, he or she is not entitled to a medical card. The Government increased the social welfare allowance to €197.80 and, as a result, people on social welfare payments are now above the threshold for medical cards. A specific instruction had to be issued to ensure that these individuals did not lose their medical cards.

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