Middle class lose out in medical card plan

MIDDLE-CLASS parents are being left out of the loop again under Department of Health proposals to allow families write off childcare costs when applying for medical cards.

This was the message from the Labour Party yesterday as it responded to proposals by Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney to determine medical card eligibility on the basis of disposable income rather than net income. Ms Harney believes this is a better indicator of whether a person can afford medical care.

Her spokesman said she is considering allowing “reasonable childcare costs” and travel-to-work expenses to be written off as she believes this would increase the numbers with cards.

However, Senator Kathleen O’Meara said she does not believe that people earning an income in or near the medical card eligibility rates, are paying much for childcare. “The people who are paying the big money for crèches are the middle classes. A married couple earning a weekly income of €260 per week just couldn’t afford to pay €150 or €200 per week for private childcare. Many in this pay bracket have their children in subsidised community crèches or else they are staying at home because they can’t afford childcare.”

Mortgage and rent are already deducted from net income when a person is applying for a medical card.

The Tánaiste’s spokesman could not say yesterday how many more people would receive medical cards, if childcare becomes a deductable expense. The Department of Health believes current income guidelines for medical cards, which were increased by 7.5% still lag behind rises in wages.

Therefore, despite Government promises to provide 30,000 additional medical cards this year as part of a €60 million initiative, the numbers covered by the scheme are dropping.

Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) president Dr Asam Ishtiaq said he welcomed any move to increase the amount of medical cards in circulation. The introduction of 200,000 ‘doctor only’ cards has been delayed due to IMO complaints that they have not been consulted on the day-to-day running of the scheme.