Medical card issue very badly handled

Health Minister James Reilly has said that people who have a medical card and are entitled to it have nothing to fear regarding its withdrawal.

That’s easy for him to say. He fails to realise the worry and heartache caused by the decision to lower the income threshold for over 70s and the withdrawal of discretionary medical cards from thousands of families.

Mr Reilly said a discretionary medical card was given on the basis of financial hardship and not on the basis of illness. That is a grossly insensitive statement and ignores the fact that serious illness invariably leads to financial hardship.

He has asked the HSE to launch a publicity campaign but it will take more than advertisements and PR spin to convince those affected that they are not being hard done by.