Independent city councillor Declan McDonnell has lashed the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, for targeting the elderly for medical card reviews.
“I have been inundated with representations from elderly people living in the community who have received notification that their medical card is being reviewed, even though in some cases the medical cards are still valid for another two to three years.
“These medical card reviews are causing a huge amount of stress and fear among elderly people and it is very unfair that the Minister has targeted these people to try to reduce the number of medical cards in existence. Ninety per cent of people being reviewed are under the threshold, but this does not stop the fear and anxiety when they receive these letters in the post. In some cases there are people in their nineties trying to complete review forms, even though their income has not and will not change.
“These are the people who worked all their lives at a time when the economic and social circumstances were much worse than they are now, their pensions are based on their income 30 years ago and in most cases their circumstances have not changed since the last review. I can’t understand why these review forms are being sent out – is it that officials are too lazy to read the information already on file?” said Cllr McDonnell.
Cllr McDonnell is calling on the Minister for Health to concentrate his efforts on reducing waste in the health service instead of targeting the elderly. He added: “Media reports over the weekend highlighted how expensive drugs are in this country in comparison to other European countries and I think the Minister should be looking at areas like this, rather than focusing on the easy target of senior citizens.”
