asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the grave hardship imposed on hundreds of people in County Wexford by the recent withdrawal of medical cards due to the means test now being applied by the South Eastern Health Board; and, if in view of rising prices, including medical expenses, he will take the necessary steps to have medical cards reissued to those who must now choose between the health of their families and the provision of the necessities of life.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Medical Cards.
54.
The fixing of income standards for the issue of medical cards to persons in County Wexford is a matter for the South-Eastern Health Board. I am not aware of the grave hardship to which the Deputy refers and I would draw his attention to the fact that 49 per cent of the population of the county are now covered by medical cards.
If the Minister does not agree that there is grave hardship I say respectfully he does not know his job. Would the Minister quote, and if he does not I will, the means test that is imposed in order to qualify for a medical card? Is he not aware that a single man who has over £8 does not qualify; that a man, with a wife, who has £15 or over does not qualify; and that a man with a wife and four children does not qualify for a medical card if the gross income—that would be the father's wages—is over £20 per week? That means that after deduction of social welfare contribution of £1.20p, trade union fees, travel and rent, there is very little for the man with which not alone to pay doctors and to pay for tablets and medicines but with which to buy food and pay for other household expenses as well. Does he believe that a man with a wife and four children who would have, say, a takehome packet of £17 should then be asked to pay for a doctor and pay for the various prescriptions?
The regulations provided by the different health boards in relation to the medical card group have been reconciled as far as possible. In the case of the South-Eastern Health Board the percentage of population covered by medical cards on 30th June were: Carlow, 43 per cent; Kilkenny, 39 per cent; Tipperary South Riding, 37.3 per cent; Waterford, 30.3 per cent; Wexford 49 per cent. That indicates that there cannot be any very gross distortion in relation to medical cards in Wexford, but I should say to the Deputy that the chief executive officers will be engaging in the re-examination of the limits for health cards some time in the course of the next four months and they will take into account any relevant factors in relation to hardship such as are mentioned by the Deputy.
Let us get down to it. Did the Minister listen to the figures I gave?
Yes.
A man with a wife and four children who has £20.1p per week is not entitled to a medical card.
Forty-nine per cent of the people of Wexford——
May I ask another question on that, because this means test is also related to valuation? Could the Minister tell me the number of cards that are given on the basis of income and the number of cards issued on the basis of valuation?
I cannot tell the Deputy.
How does the means test in the South-Eastern Health Board compare with the means test in other areas?
That is a separate question.
It is not.
The question deals with County Wexford.
The figures quoted by Deputy Corish indicate that the means test is so strict that a person with £20 a week——
Question No. 55.
It would take me a quarter of an hour to quote the figures.
It would take these people longer to get a doctor when they have not got the money.
Is it not a fact that the reason the percentages which the Minister has quoted are so high is that school children over 16 years of age who may never be sick have been issued with medical cards while the cards have been taken from their parents and from many people with fairly large families?
I cannot say that.
May I ask the Minister——
We cannot debate this question all day. The Deputy has already asked three supplementaries.
It is the first time I have intervened since Question Time began. The Minister has overall responsibility for the administration of the health services. Would he instruct the South-Eastern Health Board, and other boards who have a similarly harsh means test, to have this review carried out as quickly as possible?
The review is being undertaken.
Four months is a long time and in the meantime people can starve and people will have to neglect their children if they have to pay £1.50p for a doctor and also pay for medicines and tablets.
Would the Minister agree that his statement here today makes ludicrous the statement of the Taoiseach that our social welfare services can quite simply be balanced up with those in the North?
It will be found that the percentage of people receiving medical cards will not vary by more than 1 or 2 per cent of what it has varied over the past five years.
A man with four children who has £20 a week cannot get a medical card. It is scandalous. Do not mind the percentages.
The standard of living is going up in this country.
The cost of living is going up.
If the percentage of medical cards——
We are not talking about percentages. We are talking about food and medicines.
As the Deputy appreciates, I as Minister have never indicated that I could envisage a health system in which roughly more than between, shall we say, 29 and 33 per cent of the people of this country would have medical cards.
It is need we are talking about, not percentages.
I have never indicated that we could agree to anything more than that.
The Minister is indulging in his Brussels brainwashing.
Order.
Would the Minister take into consideration that there is an unanimous recommendation by all the members of the regional health board that the limits should be increased by 25 per cent?
Hear, hear.
There is no possibility of the limits being increased by 25 per cent.
Because the Minister can only talk in statistics and does not know the first thing about ordinary people.
That is why he became Tánaiste.
The chief executive officers of all the health boards will be undertaking a revision in the course of the next two or three months and they will examine the position in relation to the cost of living, in relation to all the factors on which Deputies have spoken.
They did that before and the result was that we are talking about today.
(Interruptions.)
Question No. 55.
All will be well when we go into Europe.
55.
asked the Minister for Health the number of medical cards valid in each of the health board areas at the latest available date; and how these figures compare with those for the same time last year.
As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to circulate it with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
Number of Cards Current |
||
|
30th June, 1971 |
30th June, 1972 |
|
|
Eastern Health Board |
60,041 |
59,226 |
|
Midland Health Board |
25,349 |
25,541 |
|
Mid-Western Health Board |
29,880 |
29,492 |
|
North-Eastern Health Board |
34,777 |
32,825 |
|
North-Western Health Board |
31,002 |
27,738 |
|
South-Eastern Health Board |
46,384 |
52,294 |
|
Southern Health Board |
61,548 |
70,221 |
|
Western Health Board |
58,081 |
56,608 |
|
347,062 |
353,945 |
Could the Minister give any details of how these figures compare?
The reply will be circulated with the Official Report and the Deputy can ask a question about it.