Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did not have the opportunity to either address the first amendment in my name and that of Deputy Kelleher, or indeed, the specific section to which that amendment referred. The Minister of State's amendment is an opportunity for us to make it crystal clear to him and to his colleagues in the Department of Health that the so-called Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013 is an absolutely scandalous piece of legislation that will have very serious consequences for many people aged 70 years and older. There is a mistaken notion that people at 70 and over are no longer in working life but many of them are. Fortunately, due to advances in lifestyles, medication and health care supports, people are living longer and they are leading active and employed lives into later years.

People aged over 70 are being doubly discriminated against, and not only by virtue of the ever-decreasing thresholds for qualification that the Government has introduced since taking office in 2011. It very particularly targeted couples in this instance by changing the equilibrium of qualification between the single person and a couple, but it is also penalising them because the calculation is based on the gross rather than the net income. This does not take into account the fact that there will be those aged 70 and over who still have mortgage repayments, who still incur costs for travelling to work. Once they have crossed the threshold from 69 to 70, they lose the entitlement to have those matters taken into account in determining their net income. It is a very serious matter.

I wonder what level of pre-calculation was employed in determining the numbers who would, as a consequence of this legislation, lose the full medical card. The figure of 35,000 is cited. I wonder what exercise has been carried out in determining the impact of those who are marginally over the €500 and because this is gross income, the real figure in comparable terms with those under 70 means the threshold for them is even less in real terms in comparison to those of younger years.

The €500 gross threshold for qualification for those aged 70 and over is punitive and it will lead to significant difficulties for people at that point in their lives. In the case of couples, the Minister of State has not even seen his way to maintain the equilibrium between a single person and two people together, that is, double the single qualification figure. Instead, it has been reduced by €300 for a couple in the budget 2014 statement of intent.

The legislation will hurt many people. It is no compensation to them that they will have a GP-only card. There is no compensation for them under the drugs refund scheme. They will be penalised up to €144 per month in terms of their medication needs, if indeed that is the level of expenditure in the provision of their medication needs. There is much more besides. All of the other areas such as hospital access and various other services come with the possession of a full medical card.

Technical though the Minister of State may argue this amendment is, this is at the core of the legislation and he is providing us with another opportunity to make it crystal clear that this is an outrageous proposition and one that will have untold consequences for many citizens who are incredulous that he has targeted older people not only in regard to the medical card, but he has also penalised them across a range of other areas, including the telephone allowance, and other examples in the package of measures introduced in budget 2014. I am never surprised at some of the measures that Fine Gael would bring forward but I am doubly incredulous that the Labour Party is an integral part of bringing forward and defending what is the indefensible.

As I said on Committee Stage, I was happy to record welcoming the introduction of the GP-only card for all children aged five years and under, as part of the programme of the roll-out of free GP care for all citizens, universal access to GP care. It is not free but it is free at the point of delivery. However, all the good intent this should have signalled has been completely erased by the targeting of €149 million so-called savings from the medical card fund and yet only €37 million is set aside for the roll-out of free GP care for children. It is a case of giving with one hand in such a small way and with no certainty as to the intent over the next 12 months and beyond to continue that roll-out and yet taking such a wallop back. It is inexcusable. As Deputy Kelleher has indicated his intent, I most certainly will be opposing not only this amendment, but the passage of this piece of very objectionable legislation.

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