Cancer patients should be focused on just one thing – getting better, but the inpatient costs, which can rise to €800 a year, are not doing anything to help that and must be scrapped.
This is the view of the Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, who was speaking following his party’s Dáil motion which seeks to end the €80 in-patient charge for cancer patients.
For cancer patients who do not have a medical card or private health insurance, every chemotherapy or radiotherapy appointment costs €80, to a maximum of €800 per annum.
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A 2019 report from the Irish Cancer Society, conservatively estimated this additional cost was €756 per month. In some cases, it is more than €1,000 per month. Cllr Hanley pointed out that, given the increase in the cost of living since 2019, these figures are now likely to be higher.
“This additional cost comes at a time when many suffer a loss in income, which averages €1,500 per month,” he said. “Invoices are often sent out to patients within days of their first treatment being administered – and, if they are not paid within six weeks, debt collection agencies are hired to pursue the debt.”
He also pointed out that, as well as these fees, hospital parking charges are another burden on cancer patients. “This is despite the fact that the Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a cap on daily hospital parking charges and flexible passes in all public hospitals for patients and their families,” Cllr Hanley said.
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The Social Democrats are calling for the abolition of the €80 inpatient charge; for debt collection agencies to no longer be used by public hospitals; and for the Government to immediately introduce caps on parking charges.
“The purpose of the health service is to assist cancer patients in whatever way it can. It should not be adding to their trauma, through its use of aggressive debt collection tactics,” said Cllr Hanley. “The Government has the power to immediately act to reduce a portion of the huge financial burden that cancer patients face.”
