Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Howlin's remark that there are no allocations for Sláintecare in the budget is incorrect. There is an allocation to establish the health reform office. One of the recommendations in the Sláintecare report was that one of the first actions to be done is the establishment of such an office to work on the implementation plan for Sláintecare. Sláintecare is a plan for a plan, it is not a plan in itself. It requires an implementation plan and it recommends that a number of reviews be done. Those reviews have to be done, one of which is the review of the public-private mix in the public hospitals and how it might be eliminated. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has appointed a group to do that. This group is, I believe, led by Donal de Buitléir. The Sláintecare report also recommends that we begin, progressively over time, to reduce out-of-pocket expenses and costs for patients. There are two specific measures in the budget that do exactly that, namely, a reduction in the prescription charge for medical card holders under the age of 70 - having done it for the over-70s last year - and the reduction in the monthly charge for the drugs payment scheme, DPS, for those who do not have medical cards. That will be reduced by €10 per week-----

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