Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the Bill to ensure children who are in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance receive a medical card automatically.

It is well known that parents with responsibility for a very sick child, who will be sick for many years, have enough to do and have other problems to get over every day, when they are landed with this noose around their necks. Why has this measure taken so long since it was announced in the budget so many months ago? Those people have been looking forward to this since. I hope there will not be much further delay and it can be progressed as soon as possible.

The reduction in prescription charges is also very welcome. As Deputy Michael Harty has said, many people had to forego some medication because they could not afford the charges. When we talk about medical cards there are many issues that need to be resolved, but there is one issue in particular I have come across many times. It is where many people do not apply for a medical card until they get sick or until the day they go into hospital. Panic sets in because they know they do not have the funds to pay the hospital. They fill out their card application form and send it away. In due course, they get their card, but they may have already left the hospital two or three weeks prior to receiving the card. They are billed by the hospital and they must pay that bill, even though they subsequently receive the medical card.

I am asking for this matter to be reviewed. If a person is entitled to the card then it should at least be in force from the day a person applies for it, or maybe even further back. People do not expect to get sick and they do not take the precaution of looking for the medical card even though they are entitled to it. As many people do not do this, I ask that the matter could be looked at to see if some fairness could apply to those people. I have been involved in a number of cases where people had to pay the hospital and there was no way in the world could they get out of it. They actually had to borrow money from the credit union to pay the bills.

My next point is possibly unrelated to the topic we are speaking about. I am aware that the Kerry Cork health link bus, which takes people to Cork University Hospital, is on the road every day. The bus needs to be replaced. The operator needs to buy another bus but must pay VAT on the new bus. This is very unfair and I say to the Government it is collecting enough VAT from every other person in the State so please do not charge those people who provide a service that takes patients for cancer treatment to Cork, or to any other hospital. People should not have to pay for VAT on a vehicle such as this. I ask that this could be looked at to ensure the matter is addressed. It is very unfair. The Kerry Cork health link bus provides a great service for people who do not have a car or cannot drive a car themselves. I ask that the matter be looked into and addressed appropriately.

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