13 Nov 2013, 11:55
The Committee of Public Accounts will focus on eligibility for medical cards tomorrow Thursday, 14th November 2013 when it meets with Tony O’Brien, Director General of the HSE and Dr Ambrose O’Loughlin, Secretary General of the Department of Health.
Committee Chairman John McGuinness TD said: “Medical cards cost the HSE a total of €1.7 billion in 2012. The HSE’s Service Plan for 2014 has not yet been published but a spending reduction of €666 million was flagged in last month’s budget – €113 million of this will be accounted for through a review of medical cards with the intention of removing ineligible cards from the system. Savings have already been made in the medical card area this year from tighter controls and surveillance work. Minister for Health, Dr Jams Reilly has said that there have been no changes to policy but there have been changes to probity.
The latest average cost of a medical card provided to the PAC by the HSE was €1,000 per card, while the latest information available from the HSE says that there are almost 2 million cards currently in issue, the highest number ever recorded. These cards cover 43% of the population.
Among the issues of interest for this week’s meeting will be the proposed changes to the medical card system in Budget 2014 and the projected savings of each change. The Committee will also be keen to establish if there have been changes to the award of discretionary cards which have fallen from 1 in 18 cards in 2009 to 1 in 33 in 2012. How tighter controls are operating in practice in the medical area will be of particular interest, along with details of the overall level of fraud and ineligibility emerging as a result. Surveillance work being conducted by the HSE could be discussed. The Committee may also wish to inquire into the HSE’s new information campaign on medical cards, the costs of this and the value to the public.”
This meeting will start in Committee Room 1 at 10am, Thursday, 14th November 2013.
Committee proceedings can be followed live here.
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Committee of Public Accounts Membership
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Áine Collins
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross