Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Too much playing around with the figures is going on. I quoted from official sources - the HSE performance report of January 2011 and Parliamentary Question No. 540 of 10 June 2014. The number of discretionary medical cards reduced from 80,000 to 50,000, which means 30,000 cards were taken back. Will those who lost their medical cards also receive a refund because clearly by restoring them in the aftermath of the elections the Government has obviously accepted that they were wrongly taken? Can I take it that all the extra costs for medication and therapy will be restored to those who lost their cards? Critically, we want to find out about the other 15,000 who have had their discretionary medical cards taken from them and who should also have them restored.

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