asked the Minister for Health if he will consider recommending to all health boards that wet alcoholics be considered eligible for medical cards.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Medical Cards for Alcoholics.
44.
Eligibility for a medical card depends on the applicant's ability to pay for general practitioner services for himself and his dependants. If, because a person is an alcoholic, his circumstances have deteriorated to the stage that he is unable to pay for such services without undue hardship, he is then eligible for a medical card. These arrangements ensure that the need for general practitioner services of any person who is an alcoholic is adequately catered for and I do not think it necessary to extend eligibility as suggested.