Fine Gael and Labour have accused the Government of ensuring continued hardship for the poor by deciding not to make medical cards more widely available.
Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, repeated his party's pledge yesterday to double the income eligibility limits for medical cards in their first year in office.
This would bring 450,000 more people into medical-card cover and bring the total to 1.6 million or 40 per cent of the population.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said her party believed GP care should be free to all.
In a statement yesterday Mr Mitchell said the announcement of the primary-care plan "showed that this Government is intent on perpetuating apartheid in the health services".
The Value for Money Audit of the health services, commissioned by the Government, had described medical cards as "real value for money".
Yet these were not going to be made more widely available.
The same report had criticised the level of financial and management competence in the health boards, he went on.
Yet "the Government has not set out proposals for real reform of these structures, and is to add a further hospital authority to Comhairle na nOspidΘal. This is a recipe for continued bureaucratic mismanagement."
He said his party favoured taking pressure off hospitals through major investment in primary health services such as GPs, community pharmacies and community nursing.
They proposed extending free GP services to children up to the age of 18 and beyond when in full-time education; to all citizens aged over 65; and those in the lower 60 per cent of income groups.
Fine Gael would also increase the number of public health nurses to 2,000, Mr Mitchell said.
Ms McManus said the decision was "cynical and disgraceful", showing that "the poor are going to continue to suffer and the health strategy announced on Monday is quickly beginning to crumble. It is obvious that the strategy is skewed towards the higher paid and not towards those who need it most", she said.
"The Minister has clearly ensured that no improvement for low-income families will come before the Government loses power.
"No amount of glitzy PR can disguise the fact that those who need to access primary care most are prevented from doing so because they can't afford to visit their family doctor.
"Labour believes that access to GPs should be free. The Government clearly believes that access to GPs for those on low incomes who are just above the ceiling for medical cards must continue to suffer," she said.