Policy on discretionary medical cards ‘unchanged’

The Government has denied a campaign is under way to alter criteria for discretionary medical card holders or that only terminally ill patients will be given cards.

The accusation was made by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin yesterday in the Dáil as he claimed that thousands of cards had been withdrawn from ill people and patients in the last year. =

He said Health Minister James Reilly and the HSE had confirmed that some people with cancer could be denied medical cards unless they were terminally ill.