‘Fairer’ medical cards system unveiled

Family doctors will be able to restore medical cards to patients for up to a year in rare cases if they believe the vital help has been wrongly withdrawn by the HSE.

The veto was announced by Health Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday, as part of a range of measures which the Government hopes will bring to an end the year- long scandal that damaged the Coalition parties in May’s local elections.

While financial rules will continue to be the central factor in any decision on whether someone should receive a card, a new interpretation of the “burden of illness” rule will be used to allow non-financial health issues linked to the condition to be included.