Sir, – The Budget introduced a huge levy increase on medical-card holders from €19.50 per month to a new high of €25 (prescription charges are €1.50 per item, up to the new maximum of €25 a month).
However, together with that increase, nobody appears to have noticed the impoverishment of the 13th payment.
I suffer from many complaints and so my daily intake of various medications in tablet form averages some 2,000 milligrams per day, not to mention the use of a number of inhalers, creams/ointments, etc. However, each prescription provided to me caters for only 28 tablets per month rather than a proper average of 30 and therefore there is a serious shortfall in my annual supply by some 26 tablets, a full month’s supply of same, and in consequence I am forced to pay an extra month’s levy (€25) to cover this shortfall. – Yours, etc,
GEORGE P KEARNS,
Griffith Parade,
Finglas East, Dublin 11.