Gilmore says climbdown 'humiliating' for Govt

REACTION:The Government climbdown on medical cards has caused "political humiliation" for Minister for Health Mary Harney and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said today.

In a statement released after the Government announced major changes to the Budget proposal to scrap the automatic entitlement to cards for the over-70s, Mr Gilmore said the plan should have been abandoned altogether.

“The Labour Party believes that it would have been more honest if the Government had announced this morning that it has simply decided to scrap its original proposal and stuck with the principle of universal access to medical cards for all those over 70,” said Mr Gilmore.

“Medical research has shown that full eligibility for the cards has led to significant improvements in the health of the elderly. In addition, it is likely that there will be significant costs involved in administering the complicated means testing system that will now be required.”

He said the Government’s about-turn on the issue was “unprecedented in recent decades”.

“It is a particular political humiliation for the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, who devised the scheme and the Minister for Finance who made it a central part of his first budget”.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who attended a protest meeting by Age Action in Dublin earlier, told the gathering the Government had made the biggest political blunder in political history and compared Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan to Laurel and Hardy.

“This is another fine mess you got yourself in,” he said to applause from the meeting in St Andrew's Church on Westland Row.

While he welcomed the “dramatic increase” in the income threshold, Age Action Ireland’s Eamon Timmins said the Government’s intentions sounded “the death knell for the automatic entitlement to the card, which was greatly valued by older people.”

Mr Timmins said there was “no guarantee that these levels will keep track of inflation or that they will not reduced in future years.”

“Automatic entitlement to cards meant that all older people who were sick could go to their GP without having to worry about the cost of the visit or their medication. It also provided them with access to a range of community services.”

Age Action believes the over-70s medical card has played a key role in helping older people secure the necessary medical care in their own communities, rather than having to go into acute hospitals or nursing homes.

Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes said the decision was a victory for people power. “It’s an extraordinary climbdown. It showed the Government was monumentally out of touch with reality,” Mr Hayes said.

“It’s a victory for people power, for the pensioners who came out and made their voices heard on this issue.”

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of today's announcement, Independent TD Finian McGrath described it as "a step in the right direction" but said the Government "should have backed off on the whole thing". Mr McGrath yesterday withdrew his support of the Government over the issue.

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Government did not go far enough. “After creating all this anxiety it is now unclear whether the Government will make any savings from the scheme at all. The original decision should simply be reversed and universal provision for over 70s restored,” he said.

“This morning's announcement by the Government is an embarrassing climb-down but it does not go far enough. Full entitlement to a medical card should now be restored to the over 70s while public pressure must continue to be applied to Government to reverse other disastrous cutbacks in health," the Sinn Féin TD added.