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

Eligibility for medical cards is means-tested in Ireland and always has been. However, more than 100,000 discretionary medical cards are provided to people who do not qualify based on means and who often have a particular illness. There was considerable variation from region to region in the past regarding how discretion was applied but that was standardised in more recent years. We did a lot of work about five or six years ago under the chairmanship of Professor Frank Keane to see if we could designate particular illnesses that would automatically entitle someone to a medical card and designate other illnesses that would not. Professor Keane's expert group found that there was no fair way to provide a list of illnesses that would entitle a person to a medical card and a list of illness that would not. The report is a difficult read but one I would recommend.

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