Results 4,281-4,300 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Delays (14 Nov 2013)

Alex White: The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible. The Health Service Executive operates the General Medical Services scheme, which includes medical cards and GP visit cards, under the Health Act 1970, as amended. It has established a dedicated contact service for members of the Oireachtas specifically for queries relating to...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Delays (14 Nov 2013)

Alex White: The Health Service Executive has been asked to examine this matter and to reply to the Deputy as soon as possible. The Health Service Executive operates the General Medical Services scheme, which includes medical cards and GP visit cards, under the Health Act 1970, as amended. It has established a dedicated contact service for members of the Oireachtas specifically for queries relating to...

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill: Referral to Select Committee (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Sub-committee on Health pursuant to Standing Order 82A(3)(a) and (6)(a) and 126(1).

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: Social protection is an interesting example of the choices. We know from the Fianna Fáil numbers in the four year plan prior to the last election that the people were far better advised to choose this Government in respect of social protection. If the party opposite had gone into government, the cuts that would have occurred in social protection - this is from its own words before the...

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I can agree to an extent with Deputy Cowen in respect of the discussion on the future and how we approach it. Deputy Cowen probably does have a point with regard to how we all debate and discuss the future, now that we are emerging from the traumatic crisis we have been in for the past number of years. We must think more carefully about what we say we can achieve in the future and what is...

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: We are changing the law to adjust the eligibility for medical cards. I am genuinely interested in people's views. Is it being proposed by Deputy Kelleher or anyone else in the House that we should change the 1970 Act in that radical way to move it away from an assessment of means to an assessment of medical condition? I will not press Deputy Kelleher to respond but if that is the view he or...

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I would not misrepresent something. I will tell the truth in my reply.

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: How much time do I have?

Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: Okay. I wish to address the broad issue of the Government's policy on the development of a universal GP service. I would also like to respond to the suggestion that has been made during this debate that the legislative measure we are discussing is somehow contrary to the Government's policy on the universal GP service. As I have said previously in this Chamber, I do not accept that the...

Other Questions: Medical Card Data (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: Under paragraph 11 of the general medical services or GMS contract, a general practitioner or GP shall provide for eligible persons, on behalf of the HSE, all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a GP and not requiring special skill or experience of a degree or kind which GPs cannot reasonably be expected to possess. Under paragraph 27 of the GMS contract, a medical...

Other Questions: Medical Card Data (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: As I said in my reply, we have communicated with the IMO and GP contract holders generally. I have heard of this issue coming up before as parliamentary questions have been tabled about it. The position is very clear in that a person cannot be charged for blood tests in circumstances where it is necessary to assist the process of diagnosis or to monitor a condition that has already been...

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Expenditure (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I believe every word of it.

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Expenditure (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: Most certainly we can give the commitment that everything will be done in order to drive the savings that are required in this context. I welcome the Deputy's support for these changes, as they are important and will yield a benefit for the State, the Exchequer and the health services. We will press on further. We waited many years for this legislation and introduced it this year. Not...

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Expenditure (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I will not be able to dress any particular drug, but I share people's interest in and concern about this matter and am keen to follow up on it. There are differentials. A report prepared by the ESRI this year provided a good analysis of this situation. Sometimes, one does not always compare like with like, although I am not making an excuse for the differentials. There are many factors,...

Other Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: The construction of a new health centre on Inishbofin was identified as a priority for the provision of health services under the CLÁR programme to the island population in 2003. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which had responsibility for the islands at that time, indicated that there was support for the Inishbofin project under the 2004-05 programme. The...

Other Questions: Health Services Provision (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: Deputy Kyne made some reasonable points, particularly regarding the delay since 2003 in resolving this matter. I take his comments on board and thank him for raising this matter with his usual assiduousness. We will pursue the matter as he has requested us to do.

Other Questions: Medicinal Products Expenditure (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: The State has introduced a series of reforms in recent years to reduce pharmaceutical prices and expenditure. These have resulted in reductions in the prices of thousands of medicines. Price reductions of the order of 30% per item reimbursed have been achieved between 2009 and 2013; the average cost per items reimbursed is now running at 2001-02 levels. Additional savings measures are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Medical Card Eligibility (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: There is no proposal to amend the Bill we propose to bring before the House. Does the Deputy think it should based on net income for all or gross income for all? There is no proposal to do either but I am curious as to which one the Deputy is proposing.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Medical Card Eligibility (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: I do not think people are confused when we explain that there is a different way of assessing income. It is net income for the general population and gross income for the specific group of over-70s. There may be some confusion on the part of people regarding forms and how the thing is managed and that is what we are trying to deal with and I think the HSE is doing a good job on that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Primary Care Strategy (13 Nov 2013)

Alex White: As so often, we come to the issue of credibility during oral questions on health. The Deputy's party, of course, did absolutely nothing on this agenda.