John Kelly (Labour)

I support Senator Gilroy's initiative on suicide awareness. I urge everyone to participate in the process.

For a number of months, Senators Landy and Moloney and I were complaining about the delays in processing medical cards. Another issue has arisen, which is that the interpretation of the primary care reimbursement system of who is entitled to a medical card has been called into question. For years, student between 16 and 25 years were entitled to a medical card if their parents had a medal card. However, a 26 year old mature student with no income other than the grant, who is being subsidised by parents who are also medical cardholders, is being refused the medical card because these people have no income. They have no income because they are full-time students. It is frustrating to explain to these people that an income of nil is less than the guideline figure of €184, which means they should be entitled to a medical card. I am at my wits' end. Senator Healy Eames told me about the case of a person who was refused a medical card for being 10 cent a week over the guidelines for a medical card. There is no common sense prevailing in the primary care reimbursement system. I to call on the Leader to arrange for representatives of the primary care reimbursement system to appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children to answer questions on their knowledge and interpretation of who is entitled to a medical card.