Brave Ronan has his medical card restored
Ronan Woodhouse, aged eight, from Clare, who has Down Syndrome, will get a full medical card until at least July 2015 after Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised for the distress the cost-saving plan caused for people across the country.
This happened eight months after Ronan and his mother Noreen braved winter conditions to picket the Fine Gael annual conference in Limerick in a bid to highlight the impact of the policy to cut back on discretionary medical cards.
Later Noreen and Ronan took their campaign to Leinster House and made the case for thousands of others with life long conditions who had their medical cards withdrawn.
Yesterday, Noreen contacted the HSE and was told Ronanâs medical card had been restored and she would receive written confirmation within 10 days.
She said it was âwonderful newsâ and that it was particularly pleasing that many others who were unable to speak up will also benefit.
âI suppose for me it was never just about Ronan,â said Noreen. âObviously Ronan was my primary concern, but I felt from the get go that this was fundamentally unjust.
âI am a private person by nature so to be outside the FG annual conference and to be on the front page of newspapers discussing my financial situation, and having to go into my overdraft to pay Ronanâs medical cost, was very hard.
âBut I just felt there was always a human story behind these cards that needed to be told.â
Noreen said that, in everybodyâs case, the fight has to go on because there were significant bills and debts built up by parents, patients and carers during the period that the medical cards were withdrawn and there should be retrospective compensation to recognise the error.
She is proud of Ronanâs part in the campaign during the local elections that forced the most significant u-turn during the lifetime of the current government.
âRonan has become a face in this. He has become the face and the voice and I think he liked the notoriety,â she said.
