This article is from page 18 of the 2009-12-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
CHANGES should be made to health policy to ensure that cancer sufferers are automatically entitled to medical cards, a meeting has heard.
Speaking at the December meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) called on the local author- ity “to request the Health Service Ex- ecutive, to implement a health policy for the future “that a person that suf- fers from cancer (or any other serious illness), should automatically receive a medical card, thus ruling out the procedure of means testing”.
Cllr Daly told the meeting that worrying about the financial costs of cancer treatment imposes extra bur- dens on patients.
He said cancer sufferers should not be subject to means tests. He claimed that in some cases patients were forced to wait “two or three months” for treatment.
“There are still situations when serious ill patients have to fight for medical cards,” added Cllr Daly.
Cllr Pat Keane (FF) said he fully supported the motion. Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said that he fully supported the sentiment of the motion but stated that he understood that “such an ar- rangement already exists for people with serious medical conditions”.
Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) expressed his support for the motion, saying it was of “critical importance” that cancer sufferers receive immediate access to medical treatment. Mayor
of Clare Tony Mulcahy (FG) said he emphatically supported the pro- posal.
According to the HSE, “Medical cards allow people to access family doctor or GP services, community health services, dental services, pre- scription medicine costs, hospital care and a range of other benefits free of charge. Most people who get a medical card do so because their income is below a certain level. It is also possible to get a medical card if the costs of meeting your medical needs causes you financial hardship,
or if you have entitlement under EU Korean FLW CO) ete
Medical card holders are exempt from paying the Health Levy part of social insurance and from the In- come Levy introduced in 2009.
A 50 cent charge per prescription item was introduced in Budget 2010 for medical card and Long Term Illness Card holders, subject to a monthly ceiling of €10 per family.