Losing medical cards - Right to be worried

GPs are warning that the withdrawal of existing medical cards is causing serious worry among vulnerable people.

The HSE has admitted it cancelled almost 10,000 medical cards, because the holders were no longer entitled to them, but there were also 35,000 other people the HSE insists did not respond to requests for more information.

Many elderly and infirm people are living in dread of losing their medical cards. Health Minister James Reilly insists they are worrying needlessly. “Nobody who is entitled to a medical card will lose it or be refused one,” he insisted recently.