Tánaiste to increase medical card limits

TÁNAISTE and Health Minister, Mary Harney is expected to announce an increase in the income threshold for medical card eligibility later this week.

It follows revelations in yesterday's Irish Examiner that not one of 30,000 additional, medical cards allocated to low-income earners this year has been taken up by the public.

A spokesperson for Ms Harney said yesterday that a review of existing guidelines for medical card eligibility was almost complete. As a result the Tánaiste is likely to approve an increase in the income limits within the next few days in order to ensure 30,000 further medical cards are issued as soon as possible.