Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I saw the report. We are acutely aware of the costs for cancer patients and indeed for patients across the country. We have taken numerous steps. We reduced the threshold for the drug payment scheme from €114 to €80, we abolished pediatric hospital charges and we will abolish adult hospital charges now. In the next few months we will be issuing GP cards to an additional 500,000 men, women and children. We will continue with the relentless focus on reducing costs for patients right across the board. In regard to the call for cancer patients having medical cards the consistent advice we have from an expert review on this issue is that we should not create a hierarchy of diseases such that a person with one disease should get a medical card and a person with another disease should not. We are progressing on an age basis for GP cards and on an income basis with a view to reducing radically and continuing to reduce costs for all patients.

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