Medical card sole cover for most over-70s

ONE in three over-70s have both a medical card and private health insurance, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

The numbers with both forms of medical cover have more than tripled from 10% to 33% since the Government introduced automatic entitlement to the medical card in 2001. But the medical card remains the sole form of medical cover for the majority of the country’s oldest citizens, with 62% covered in this way and just 3% relying on private health insurance alone.

By contrast, when adults of all ages are surveyed, 44% rely solely on private health insurance, 24% on the medical card and just 5% have both. More than a quarter (27%) have no cover at all, and that rises to 44% among the 18-24 age group.