Vol. 457 No. 7
100 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn: asked the Minister for Health the number of children under the age of 16 covered under the medical card scheme; and the percentage of the total number of children under 16 that this represents. [15971/95]
101 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Health the cost to the State of extending medical card coverage to all children under 16 years of age. [15972/95]
102 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Health the annual cost to the State per child under the medical cards scheme. [15973/95]
I propose taking Questions Nos. 100, 101 and 102 together.
Statistics regarding the medical card scheme are compiled by the General Medical Services (Payments) Board. According to the board, there were 332,197 children under the age of 16 covered by medical cards as at 31 October 1995. This represents 32.9 per cent of the 1,008,308 children recorded in the 1991 census of population in this age group.
According to the General Medical Services (Payments) Board, the annual cost of medical card cover to the State per child under the age of 16 is £86.60. The cost to the State of extending medical card coverage to all children under 16 years of age is estimated at £58.55 million.
