Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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192. To ask the Minister for Health if the charges of €80 per visit capped at up to €800 per year in certain venesection clinics including Louth hospital will be overturned and the treatment made available for free to persons who cannot access medical cards and cannot afford private health insurance; if this has been reviewed; if a decision has been made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52465/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Health Act 1970 (as amended) provides that all persons ordinarily resident in the country are eligible, subject to certain charges, to public in-patient hospital services. The current public hospital statutory in-patient charge is €80 per day, subject to a maximum of €800 in any period of 12 consecutive months. All persons accessing public in-patient services, including day case services, in a public hospital are liable for the statutory public-inpatient charges, subject to a number of exemptions, including where a person is a medical cardholder.

There are currently no plans to exempt further categories of patients from the public in-patient charge.