3000 Mayo Medical Cards Cuts

Figures released to Fianna Fáil have revealed the full extent of cuts to medical
cards in Mayo with 3,095 cards slashed in the 12 months to the beginning of
September.

The number of medical cards in Mayo has been cut from 67,218
in September 2013 to 64,123 last September, this includes a reduction in the
number of over 70s medical cards by 309 (from 13,151 to 12,842).

“These are appalling cuts and have had a major impact on people’s lives.  I have
consistently pointed out that the Government was engaged in a deliberate and
disgraceful attack on people with medical cards for the last two years.  We now
have clear evidence of the scale of the cuts.  In one year alone over 3,000
medical cards were taken off people in Mayo, over 300 of these were medical
cards for people over 70 years of age.  Many of the people hit by these
decisions are facing very difficult medical conditions.

“For two years the government has ignored the issue and denied that there was a deliberate
policy to cut medical cards for people serious illnesses and disabilities and
the over 70s.  It took the loss of hundreds of council seats across the country
to make the government sit up and listen.

“However despite claiming to stop these cuts and to begin restoring medical cards the Government is still taking cards away from people desperately in need of them. I am dealing with
cases every week of people having their cards withdrawn and then being denied
their cards again on appeal.  It is astonishing that thousands of families are
still enduring so much anguish, hurt and expense at the hands of this
Government.”