15,000 medical cards to be returned

Up to 15,000 people who lost vital discretionary medical cards as part of a now-scrapped Government review of the system will see them returned by the end of next week.

HSE deputy director general Laverne McGuinness told the latest Oireachtas Health Committee meeting the figure will be reached by next Friday — with 10,000 cards already returned by today.

Confirmation of the move comes after the Government last month promised to return the cards to all 15,000 people with acute or life-long medical conditions, who lost them in recent weeks under a controversial review.

The policy U-turn came after a high-profile media and patient advocacy campaign to force the return of the supports, after the issue was first raised by the Irish Examiner last July.

In addition to all reviews of discretionary medical cards now stopping, the HSE has also been asked to establish a 23-person expert panel to examine a list of medical conditions that should allow someone to automatically receive a discretionary medical card in the future.

The move is a significant change in long-standing policy on medical cards, which until now have only been provided to people based on their financial — not medical — need.

Ms McGuinness said this expert panel is expected to complete its work by September, with a public consultation on the matter already seeing more than 3,000 submissions.

Of the 1.8m medical cards currently available in Ireland, 50,375 are provided on a discretionary basis — down from just over 80,000 at the end of 2010.