Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for agreeing to discuss on the Adjournment the need to provide cancer patients with discretionary medical cards.

This matter arises about as a result of a recent visit I had to Gort Cancer Support. This is a voluntary group that operates in Gort and which carries out undoubtedly invaluable work for cancer sufferers in that area. The service supplies drivers to bring cancer sufferers to and from hospital on a daily basis if needs be and whenever they need treatment. I understand that up to 60 people in any one month could avail of the service. I was very impressed in my engagement with those on the committee and the work they have been doing. They raised several issues with me, including this issue, which I believe merits some national attention.

Cancer patients who have been diagnosed with cancer endure undue financial hardship as a consequence of their illness. We are all in agreement with that. I know several people who have been afflicted with this illness who were self-employed with children and without private health insurance yet were not eligible for a medical card. There is no doubt this situation has left them in a completely vulnerable position financially. Only for the involvement of their own family members who helped them to manage basic expenses such as heating and travel to and from hospital for treatment, they would have been left in a precarious financial situation. This is a degrading situation for anyone to find themselves in. It is bad enough to be diagnosed with this illness and having to concentrate on recovering from it, but worrying about the requisite health cover too is unfair on these people. Without the type of support from groups in my area such as Athenry Cancer Care, Gort Cancer Support, Galway Hospice Foundation and Cancer Care West, which have been known to assist sufferers with financials in the aftermath of their hospitalisation, these people would be at a loss. I believe the Irish Cancer Society financial aid scheme provides more than €1 million per year to cancer patients who need financial help in the aftermath of hospitalisation and this figure has grown in 2013.

Groups like these are overextended at present given the reduction in the number of people who are voluntarily donating to their causes as a result of the recession. People who are suffering from cancer worry a good deal about the cost of having the illness and it is a sad reflection of this situation that they must endure it. They need to focus on recuperating, that is the first priority. I realise several cancer sufferers have medical cards granted by the Government and they do not need the same level of attention. However, there are others who have fallen through the net.

When one of my constituents became aware that I was bringing up this issue today on the Adjournment, she spoke to me in respect of her husband who has Huntington's disease. I am unsure if the Minister of State is familiar with the situation with this disease but there is no cure for it and those who have it are terminally ill. She mentioned to me that several people she knows who are afflicted with the illness have been refused medical cards in the recent past.

While we need better health for everyone in every community I am compelled to ask the Minister of State to deliver on some improvements in this area to help with the medical and financial experiences of the many thousands of individuals who are availing of cancer health services every day as well as those suffering from Huntington's disease. I acknowledge the Minister of State is in a very difficult financial position as a result of the mess that we inherited from the last Government but I call on him and his Department to consider it, even if it is not something that can be granted immediately, that it would be something that would register on the radar and that may be provided within the term of this Government across the board to all cancer sufferers and people suffering from Huntington's disease. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State.