Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The position is that over 77,925 discretionary medical cards were in circulation on 1 March. Their status on 1 March 2014 was as follows: 33% still held the medical card on the discretionary basis, that is, 25,398 people; 49% of those who had a medical card have retained their medical card based on an assessment of means. They still have their card but now on different grounds. That is 37,906 people. Some 19%, or 14,621 people, no longer hold the medical card. That 19% is made up of 3% who, unfortunately, are deceased, that is, 2,521; 7% did not respond to the correspondence from the HSE, that is, 5,145; and 2% did not complete the review process after initially engaging with the HSE, for example, documentation was not provided, that is 1,522 people; and 7% completed the review process and were found to be ineligible for medical cards, that is 5,433. Of the 77,925, 7% lost their medical card on the review system.

Obviously, this is a serious issue. The Government is committed to examining the situation again. I repeat that the Government does not agree with a policy of taking medical cards from sick children. As I said, the responsible Ministers will examine this at the earliest possible date and announce the changes they will make subsequently.

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