Over-70s medical card cuts ‘break promise’

Plans to cut the

Opposition TDs aimed

the allegation at

minister of state at

the Department of

Health, Alex White,

during an Oireachtas

health committee

meeting on legislation

to implement the cuts

yesterday.

During the meeting the

Labour official

insisted just 10% of

“high-earning”

pensioners will be

affected by the

change, which will see

eligibility limits

drop to €900 a week

for a couple and €500

for a single person.

Mr White said these

35,000 people will

still receive GP-only

visit cards — a move

he insisted will save

money without leaving

elderly people without

any help.

The Labour minister

said this means the

Programme for

Government has not

been breached as

nobody will be left

without the ability to

access free GP care.

However, Fianna Fáil

health spokesman Billy

Kelleher said the

policy switch flew in

the face of

pre-election plans.

“If the reduction to

€1,400 [the level in

place at the end of

the last government]

was an attack on

pensioners, then the

reduction to €900 is

an outright assault,”

he claimed.

“It will impact hugely

on these people. Some

of them will be unable

to afford private

health insurance, and

then they will find

they do not meet the

eligibility for

medical card help as

well.

“I can’t square that

with the explanation

given. This bill is

contradictory to

everything in the

Programme for

Government.

“I don’t want to be

overly political, but

it does beggar belief

that we are talking

about another

reduction in

eligibility when the

programme said

everything about

extending it.”

The remark was echoed

by Sinn Féin’s

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

and Independent TD

Seamus Healy, who

described the cuts as

“disgusting”.

Mr Ó Caoláin said the

fact that protests

over the pensioner

reductions this year

are not as noticeable

as those in 2008 —

when Fianna Fáil

attempted to impose

similar changes —

should not be “seen as

acceptance” of the

need for changes. “It

is because people are

beaten down,” he said,

asking Mr White if

this was a “proud”

moment in his

political career.

Mr Healy noted that

Health Minister James

Reilly had described

the 2008 cuts attempt

as “terrorism” while

in opposition, and

asked how such a

change in stance could

take place within a

matter of years.

However, Mr White said

the “overwhelming

majority” of

pensioners “will be

unaffected” by the

changes.