Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue relating to how medical cards are awarded to people in this country. Like many of my Oireachtas colleagues, time after time people come to my clinic with illnesses so grave that it beggars belief they do not satisfy the requirements for a discretionary card if they fail under other criteria. Numerous people have contacted me about the fact their cards have been taken from them. Recently I discovered that under Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 pensioners have an automatic entitlement to a non-means tested medical card if they are in receipt of a social security pension from another EU state or Switzerland and one is not subject to PRSI for earnings if one is not employed or self-employed in Ireland. If one has never contributed to the Irish social welfare system in any way one is automatically entitled to a non-means tested medical card, while those who have contributed are not. There is something fundamentally wrong with this and we must address it. It is why I want the Minister for Health to come to the Seanad to debate the issue and clarify what he will do to level the playing field in this regard.