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Gov climb down on medical cards welcome, but key questions remain

Issued : Tuesday 21 October, 2008

The Labour Party believes that it would have been more honest if the government had announced this morning that it has simply decided to scrap its original proposal and stuck with the principle of universal access to medical cards for all those over 70. Medical research has shown that full eligibility for the cards has led to significant improvements in the health of the elderly. In addition, it is likely that there will be significant costs involved in administering the complicated means testing system that will now be required.

However, the announcement by the Taoiseach on revised criteria for eligibility of the over 70s represents a climb-down by a government on a budgetary issue that is unprecedented in recent decades. It is a particular political humiliation for the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, who devised the scheme and the Minister for Finance who made it a central part of his first budget.

However, I am concerned at the Taoiseach statement that the government intends to proceed with its plans to repeal Section 1 of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act. This will mean that those over 70 have no legal entitlement to a medical card. It also means that at any time in the future, the income limits announced by the government today can be cut at the stroke of a ministerial pen.

We also need further clarification as to how the actual limits will be set. The Taoiseach referred to 'gross incomes' while the procedure to date has been that eligibility for medical cards has been based on 'net income' i.e income after tax and after payments such as rent or mortgage payments.

If the income levels are as generous as those announced today, it is difficult if not impossible to see how the government can still make the savings of €100m, which they are still claiming will be made.

While today's announcement will be positive news for many who would otherwise have lost their cards, the political implications are enormous. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance last week introduced a budget that they are now incapable of getting through the Dail. In any other country this would have led to resignations.

There are many other issues in this budget that will, in time, attract similar opposition once the implications of them become clear. This is particularly so in regard to the new 1% tax, the education cuts, the increases in health charges and the cuts in social welfare. The Labour Party will continue to oppose these cuts and next week we will be tabling a Dail motion in private members time demanding a reversal of the government decision to increase class sizes.