John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that the Minister for Health or one of the Ministers of State for Health is not taking this important issue but I appreciate they are in the Dáil on business and are unavailable. This issue relates to the changes in the eligibility criteria for medical cards which took place behind the scenes and of which I was not made aware. When I telephoned the PCRS I was told the changes were implemented under the legislation which dealt with the medical card guideline changes for the over 70s. I read that legislation and they are not in it, although if they are, they are definitely well buried.

In any case, heretofore, people were allowed to write off car loans for the purposes of qualifying for a medical card. It is a noose around one's neck to have to get a car loan to get a car to go to work and not a luxury. All of a sudden the PCRS has scrapped allowing people to write off car loans. Recently, it seems to have scrapped allowing people to write off home improvement loans. During the good times, these loans were thrown at people willy-nilly by the banks. People were sucked into a false sense of security but they still have to repay these loans. I also noticed the €50 car allowance granted to people with a car for the purpose of going to work is gone. That was there to allow for depreciation.

People are losing medical cards left, right and centre because of changes to the criteria. They are being deprived of medical cards from health and financial perspectives. I do not know who is making the decisions. Is it the Minister or the HSE? Does the Government realise the damage it is doing to these people? If somebody is on social welfare, he or she will qualify for a medical card even though the social welfare rate is in excess of the medical card guidelines. However, when one factors in all of the payments middle income earners have - cars for going to work, car loans, home improvement loans, mortgages and creche fees which the PCRS has played around with in that it does not accept certain types of childminders - they are taking home less than those on social welfare. They are really being hit by decisions such as this.

I have no doubt the Minister of State's reply has been written by the HSE and it will probably state that 43% of the people have medical cards but I can tell him that in 1980, some 40% of the people had medical cards. The figure was always been around 40%. It is not much of a change.

We heard today that cancer patients who had discretionary medical cards will now be deprived of them. This is an issue on which I have campaigned for years. I recall writing to the former Minister for Health, Ms Mary Harney, on the issue because I felt she might show some compassion to people with cancer.

Whether the reply I get from the Minister of State is one I like - I assume it will be the usual type that I do not like - I urge him to bring these concerns to the Ministers in question and to ask them to respond to me but not through the HSE. I want to know who is making the decisions because people are really hurting.

As I said, the HSE proposes to give medical cards only to those dying of cancer. It wants to hand a person with cancer a death certificate in that if one gets a medical card, one will know one has six months to live.