€200k HSE reports sought tenfold cut in medical cards

The HSE paid almost €200,000 for two widely criticised external reports claiming up to €210m could be cut from the medical cards system — 10 times more than was ultimately slashed from the budget.

Official figures show the State body spent the small fortune in 2012 on advice from Accenture and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which, two years on, remain at the centre of the ongoing medical cards controversy.

Documents obtained by www.irishhealth.com show that, of the €7.5m the HSE spent on consultancy advice in 2012, a total of €193,725 was used to pay for two reports into how the medical card bill could be slashed.