John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Quite obviously a diagnosis of cancer for anyone is a very concerning issue. This particular campaign is quite specific in who it addresses. It addresses people who do not qualify for a medical card and do not have private health insurance. If people are relatively affluent they may well have private health insurance. It indicates that people are on a fairly restricted budget. Many cancer treatments are over a protracted period of time. Generally people are either in work less or not at all. They have a reduction in income and at the very time they have a reduction in income they have additional treatment charges. While the Minister rightly states he is trying to reduce charges and that the maximum inpatient charge in a year is €800, this is a significant amount of money at a time when people are experiencing a reduction in income. It is for a specific cohort of people, not those who are particularly affluent but those who are squeezed, who pay for everything and who get very little in return. The concern is that the charge the Minister speaks about as being a reduced charge is a really punitive charge for this group of people.

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