Fury as cancer patient’s medical card appeal fails

An independent TD has said it is “very hard to comprehend the insensitivity” with which ill people are being dealt with by the authorities in removing their medical cards.

The HSE yesterday informed a 66-year-old woman from Dingle who suffers from breast cancer that her appeal against the removal of her medical card was unsuccessful.

Her 69-year-old husband, who is also ill and awaiting an operation, also has no medical card. Both are dependant on the old-age pension, have no private medical insurance, and are €30 over the annual income threshold.

The couple’s GP visit card has also been removed.

The woman said she has been fighting the removal of their entitlements since last May, and is suffering from depression brought on by the threats to remove their entitlement.

Between them, they have an old-age pension of €450 a week, and that is their sole income.

While the woman may be able to afford the €120 a month for her cancer medication — she will not be able to afford further medical procedures associated with her condition.

She hopes her husband will live until next September when he will be 70 and automatically entitled to a medical card.

“If I didn’t have the cancer, I think I could cope. But we have no other income, and no private insurance,” she said yesterday.

Tom Fleming, the Kerry South Independent TD who has been trying to fight the family’s case, said: “She has recurring cancer. Her husband is nearly 70. She’s a typical example of what I and other TDs are dealing with since the €20m cut to the medical card budget.”

“It is all very insensitive. I have seen the upset, the stress and the whole worry that is descending on vulnerable people.

“It is very hard to comprehend how a modern civilised society can look at accounts rather than at individual people. There seems to be no discretion.”

Mr Fleming said he intends raising the case in the Dáil as a typical example of what is taking place.

The appeals section of the HSE said it will not answer queries on individual cases, and referred the matter back to the primary care re-imbursement service which deals with medical card matters. The service also refused to comment.