Kenny defends medical card cut
Mr Kenny defended the budget and said there had been no difference to the eligibility criteria for medical cards, but that it was up to card-holders to voluntarily return cards if circumstances changed.
“Some people have died, some cards are redundant because people’s incomes have changed and they have moved up, some people are migrant workers who have returned to their own countries, and others are not eligible for one reason or another.”
But Fianna Fáil accused the Coalition of taking money from older people by the back door.
Mr Kenny said an analysis last year showed that out of 1.2m cards, 22 were returned voluntarily.
There have been suggestions €113m in savings in the budget for medical cards could see at least 100,000 people have their criteria changed. But Mr Kenny said: “We should not send scare messages to pensioners that all these medical cards are being taken away.”
He said that when new eligibility limits and the threshold limits for GP cards are issued, that 97% of people over 70 would have access either to medical cards or free GP cards.
But Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin pointed out it had been confirmed as part of the budget that there was a reduction in eligibility which will withdraw medical cards from 35,000 older people. The Taoiseach said he accepted this.
But Mr Kenny also said that the State pension, the carers’ schemes, the free travel scheme, and the free television licence scheme had not been touched.
The Fine Gael leader attacked Mr Martin’s party, pointing out that in previous budgets they had made drastic cuts to social welfare rates and the disability allowance.
He told Mr Martin not to come into the Dáil with his “opportunistic blather”.
Mr Kenny argued that it was important that the Government examine how many medical cards were redundant, how many migrant workers had left the country, and how many medical card holders had died.
Health Minister James Reilly told Newstalk that a PricewaterhouseCoopers report had indicated there was between €60m and €200m to be saved by probing the eligibility of some medical cards.
