Cancer medical cards ban a ‘tipping point’

Withholding discretionary medical cards from non-terminal cancer patients will be a financial “tipping point” for some families facing the diagnosis, health officials have been warned.

The Irish Cancer Society said senior management need to “reconsider” plans to stop automatically handing out the special support to people who do not have a life-limiting form of the condition.

Speaking during Wednesday’s Oireachtas health committee meeting, HSE director of integrated services Laverne McGuinness said discretionary medical cards can no longer be automatically guaranteed to cancer patients unless they have a terminal diagnosis.