John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the two years since I started raising issues related to medical cards no one listened to me. We have seen the results. I propose to raise another issue related to how the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, operates. I hope I will be listened to on this occasion and action will be taken to address the issue I raise. The PCRS is not a user-friendly system. When it receives an application for a medical card it sends the applicant a generic letter - the organisation acknowledges this is the case - in which it requests further details of income, albeit without specifying what information it seeks. When the applicant submits the information he or she believes the PCRS is seeking an acknowledgement is not issued to the applicant as the service will only provide an acknowledgement to a public representative. If the information is deemed to be insufficient or unsatisfactory, the application will be parked and left until such time as the PCRS decides the applicant is not entitled to a medical card on the basis that a certain time has elapsed.

I am dealing with a case involving a trainee solicitor, a mature student aged 25 years, who does not have any income. When I asked him yesterday how he is surviving in Dublin he informed me that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is helping him while he completes his course. He has been refused a medical cared by the primary care reimbursement service because he does not have an income. I spoke to an official yesterday who argued that a person with no income is not entitled to a medical card. There is something utterly wrong with the way in which the system operates. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Health or relevant Minister of State to the House to discuss this matter.

As I indicated, this issue is as important as the withdrawal of medical cards from sick people, yet it is not being addressed. When one speaks to officials in the PCRS one is told to accept the position and get on with it. The young man to whom I referred has been trying to obtain the medical card to which he is entitled for five months, during which time the PCRS is saving money. This is a major problem which must be resolved.