Medical card means test was considered

A Department of Health proposal to force social welfare recipients to undergo a medical card means test was among money-saving measures considered as controversy raged over a cull that saw seriously ill patients lose their entitlement to a card.

The drastic measure is contained in a submission to the Department of Public Expenditure in July, but was blacked-out in the version of the document that appeared on that department’s website last month.

However the Irish Examiner had access to the redacted version, which also proposed: