Medical card decision slammed by Opposition

The Government’s decision not to increase the income threshold for medical cards next year has been derided by the main Opposition parties as a perpetuation of the two-tier healthcare system.

Both Fine Gael and Labour have come out strongly against the decision, which emerged in the new primary healthcare plan released today by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.

Under the plan, £1.5 billion will be spent over ten years on general healthcare within the local community. The cost of implementing the plan means the Department of Health’s budget will not stretch to covering an extension of the medical card until 2003 at the earliest.

Fine Gael said it would, if elected to Government, double the existing income threshold for eligibility for free healthcare, boosting the number of people covered by 450,000 people to 1.6 million, or 40 per cent of the population.

Those limits currently stand, for those under 66, at £5,200 for a single person, £7,500 for a married couple and £9,400 for a married couple with two children.

Mr Gay Mitchell, the party’s health spokesman, said the Government’s "insincere and disingenuous" proposals in the Health Strategy showed it was intent on "perpetuating apartheid in the health services".

Labour’s spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz MacManus, said the decision on free healthcare eligibility was "a cynical and disgraceful move" that should be reviewed immediately.

She claimed the Health Strategy was "skewed towards the higher paid" and away from the poorest members of society, and added the "pomp and ceremony" surrounding the announcement had now been "shattered by the hidden proposals behind it".

The Health Strategy, released on Monday, pledged to provide medical cards for more people on low incomes and simplify the application process. It also proposed an annual review of the income threshold.