Seriously Ill Threatened with Medical Card Removal

It’s inconceivable that seriously ill people are threatened with the removal of their medical cards at the height of a pandemic.  Government must stop all medical card reviews until the vaccine rollout has been completed.

“Government must take action to ensure that medical and GP visit cards are not removed from people during the lockdown”, I strongly recommended to the Tánaiste in the Dáil today.

We are at the height of a pandemic and people are being contacted by the HSE to review their existing medical cards.

I am calling on the government to stop this practice.

Last year, there was a temporary moratorium and automatic extensions were given to all card holders. This must be replicated.

Medical card thresholds are already way too low. We should be expanding coverage and providing more medical cards.

It is a cruel practice to punish workers and families when they are trying to cope during this difficult time with many dealing with sickness and bereavement.  

Now is not the time to be hounding people for medical cards.

This government needs to protect people and deal with this issue.