Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Una is a 66-year-old pensioner who, despite working all her life, is in receipt of a non-contributory State pension of €242 per week. She has been refused the medical card because she receives a net income of €1 per week on top of her pension for the rent of a field. Her next-door neighbour gets €11 per week more by way of a contributory pension yet qualifies for the medical card. This is all because the income limits for the medical card have not increased since 2005, when the Tánaiste was just 26. By January, the basic rate of social welfare will have gone up by €71.20 over the past 17 years but Una, with an additional income of €1, is deemed too well-off to get a medical card. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when will medical card income limits be revised?

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